Even as Odisha paid rich tributes to Utkalgaurab Madhusudan Das on his birth anniversary on Saturday, the villagers of his native place are deprived of benefits under the Madhu Babu Pension scheme.

The poor villagers of Satyabhamapur near Salepur, where the architect of modern Odisha was born and brought up, are yet to be included under pension scheme, which is named after Madhusudan Das, as the beneficiaries since 2008.

The Government provides Madhu Babu Pension to the poor beneficiaries that include old persons, widows and divyangs.

However, Madhubabu’s own village people are not getting the benefits under the scheme.

Widow Sashi Das (71) is among them who is a victim of the Government apathy. After her husband’s death, she is yet to receive any kind of benefits from the Government under various schemes, including the Madhu Babu Pension.

Many widows like her are in extremely poor condition, but they never avail the benefits.

“My husband died in 2001. But I was not added to the pension scheme,” said Sulochana Bhoi (66).

Several beneficiaries, including Buli Samal (73), Basanti Samal (65), Pramod Das (66), Basudeb Nath (66), Ramachandra Bhoi (63), Arikhit Nath (64), Muralidhar Behera (65), Kalyani Samal (63), Kanchan Samal (66), Nabakishore Nayak (67), Duryodhan Ojha (70), Sukadeb Sahoo (67), Netrananda Nath (61) and Bhikari Samal (68) of Satyabhamapur village have not been included under the pension scheme.

Besides, the beneficiaries are also deprived of availing other benefits under various schemes in the village. The locals also face inconveniences due to poor road condition that is not repaired and improved for long.