Bhubaneswar, Jun 19: BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Friday wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, expressing anguish over the alleged non-payment of pension to needy people under social security schemes and urging him to ensure immediate disbursement of emoluments to such beneficiaries.
He said the state government must fix accountability over the “non-payment of pension to nearly 18 lakh beneficiaries” for the last three months, and described the issue as “serious failure of governance”.
The state government had attributed the alleged delay in pension payment to a technical glitch in the software used for the disbursement.
Patnaik said, “The government must fix accountability for this lapse and reassure pensioners that their rights will not be compromised in the future. I therefore urge you (CM) to immediately release all pending pension payments through manual disbursement and ensure that such a situation never recurs.”
He noted that these pensioners comprise the most vulnerable sections of society – elderly citizens, widows, and persons with disabilities – and said most of the beneficiaries depend entirely on the pension for their daily survival.
“The denial of this vital support for three consecutive months has exposed our most vulnerable citizens to severe distress, deprivation, and even the risk of starvation,” Patnaik said in the letter, adding that there are reports that one Sabitri Dora of Beguniapada in Ganjam “lost her life after being deprived of her pension benefits”.
“Such a situation is unacceptable in a state committed to protecting its weakest citizens. What is even more shocking is that this prolonged delay has reportedly occurred due to a software-related issue. This reflects grave negligence and an abdication of the government’s basic responsibility,” Patnaik, a former five-time chief minister, said.
People’s rights cannot be left at the “mercy of technological failures”, he said.
“It is important to recall that for 24 years, my government ensured that pensions were distributed regularly on the 15th of every month, observed as ‘Jan Seva Diwas’.”
He said that beneficiaries had received their pensions at the gram panchayat level transparently and humanely.
In cases where pensioners were unable to go to the offices concerned, officials had ensured that the pension was delivered directly to their homes, the BJD president said.
Patnaik said that this “citizen-centric model” of the BJD government from 2000 to 2024 had earned widespread appreciation and was even commended by the Supreme Court.
“We consistently resisted pressure to shift entirely to the bank-based pension disbursement system because our model ensured timely delivery, personal accountability, and dignity for beneficiaries,” he said, sharing his experience in handling such a situation.
Patnaik said the stoppage of pensions for three months is “not merely a procedural lapse”, but it represents a “serious failure of governance”.
Earlier, state minister Nityananda Gond had said, “The pensions could not be properly disbursed to some beneficiaries due to certain software issues in the portal. The problem will be resolved soon.”
