Poet wrongly declared dead, will now get pension

The Delhi government has announced the release of pension to eminent Urdu poet Asar Jamayee, following media reports that the Social Welfare Department (SWD) had declared him dead in 2013. Since then, Jamayee had not been receiving any pension. Senior government officials told DNA that a monthly pension of Rs 1,500 will be restored to Jamayee as soon as he submits the relevant documents.

After reading media reports on the 80-year-old being "declared dead", Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam visited the poet's residence in south Delhi. He also ordered a probe to ascertain whether Jamayee's name was struck off the list of pensioners deliberately or whether it was an inadvertent error.

"We came to know through social media and were also informed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia about how Jamayee had not been receiving any pension since 2013. Contrary to what was reported, the Social Welfare Department had not assumed him to be dead. Only, his name had been removed from the list," a senior official said.

He further said that all pension holders have to submit a certificate every year, to certify that they were alive to receive the pension benefits. "He lives all alone, with a caretaker. He had not deposited the necessary documents since 2013, which led to this situation. Even his bank refused to acknowledge him as alive," the officer added.

The government officials also inspected the records to find out where the anomaly lay, besides ordering an investigation in to the fiasco. The official, however, refused to confirm whether the poet would be receiving pension for the last almost four years.