72-year-old struggles for dependent pension for her granddaughter

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, December 9

Having lost her both sons and husband, a 72-year-old widow has been shuttling between various offices of the Social Security Department (SSD) to start the dependent pension of her 12-year-old granddaughter.

An official said the woman had not attached the mandatory documents with her application, but she claimed she had submitted them.

“My elder son died around 13 years back while the younger one died last year. After their deaths, my daughter-in-laws also left me. But my granddaughter Kiran (12) has been staying with me. The authorities have rejected her application for dependent pension without any valid reasons,” alleged Labh Kaur from Dirba while showing her application and a letter issued by the office of the District Social Security Officer (DSSO), Sangrur.

As per her application written to the senior authorities for help, she said she had been facing hardships in arranging food for her granddaughter. After getting information about dependent pension, she applied in August with all required documents, including the death certificate of younger son and father of Kiran, Tarsem, and other required documents.

“But the office rejected my application without giving any reasons. Neither I have any land nor any relative to support. I have been making rounds of various offices, but officials are not listening,” she said while showing her documents. Labh Kaur had applied through the Dirba Sewa Kendra. Gurbhej Singh, in charge of the kendra, said after getting information about the rejection of her case, he checked the records.

“We had uploaded the death certificate and other documents on the official portal. The DSSO office should check its record,” he said.

Sangrur District Social Security Officer Satish Kapur said his office had not received the mandatory documents.