A departmental inquiry in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district has found that an elderly man’s old-age pension payments failed validation and were not credited to his bank account before his death, prompting instructions for local officials to report similar cases immediately.
Soubhagya Behera, block development officer of Parjang, confirmed on Monday that Rs 2,000 due to 71-year-old Ghanshyam Sahu of Roda village for August and September 2026 had not reached his Aadhaar-linked bank account. The payments were part of the National Social Assistance Programme, or NSAP.
Sahu, who lived alone after his wife’s death about four years ago, was found dead in Bauti forest under the limits of Parjang police station on Friday. Police have started an investigation into the death, which has been described as an apparent suicide. The inquiry into the pension payment was conducted after directions from Dhenkanal collector Ashish Iswar Patil.
According to Behera, records on the NSAP portal showed that fund-transfer validation for Sahu’s August and September pension was generated on September 30. The portal subsequently recorded the transaction status as “validation failed” and “rejected”, preventing the transfer of two monthly instalments of Rs 1,000 each.
Villagers told the Times of India that Sahu had repeatedly spoken about not receiving his pension and was facing financial hardship. The available findings confirm the payment failure, but do not establish that the missed pension caused his death. Police are separately investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The case highlights how a digital validation failure can stop a welfare payment even after a transfer process has been initiated in the system. For beneficiaries who depend on regular social-security payments, the gap between a payment being generated and money being credited can remain difficult to detect without local follow-up.
Behera said he would communicate the inquiry findings to the district social security officer for further action. Following the incident, instructions were issued to all sarpanchs and panchayat executive officers in the block to immediately report cases in which beneficiaries face difficulties receiving pension payments, so that corrective steps can be taken in time.
