BARNALA: Theirs is a queer case of alive, yet dead . Put in category of ‘dead’ by the village multipurpose agricultural cooperative society, 13 small and marginal farmers of Badbar village in Barnala district have been struggling hard for the last six months to prove their existence and avail the benefit under Punjab government’s debt relief scheme.Out of these 13 farmers, three held a protest outside the society office on Thursday, demanding justice.During these six months, these farmers have provided all the relevant documents, including Aadhaar cards, to prove themselves as alive but have still failed to convince the cooperative society to change their status from ‘dead’ to ‘alive’.Meanwhile, the officials claim that the farmers had initially failed to provide their Aadhaar cards and were to be put in the category of ‘not available’ but mistakenly got clubbed in the category of ‘dead’ by the cooperative society.Interestingly, this group of 13 includes Gurmukh Singh, who had prevailed upon a score of villagers to fill forms for getting compensation. Speaking to TOI, Gurmukh said, “When the debt waiver process began in the village, I had filled forms of many farmers. Nearly six months ago, the cooperative society officials told me that my name had mistakenly been entered in the list of ‘dead’ and told to submit documents to prove that I was still alive. I deposited the relevant documents and was told that my name has been deleted from the list of ‘dead’. Now, about a week back, the cooperative society officials again called me, saying my name continues in the list of ‘dead’ and asked for documents again.”“I know that there are 12 others persons from my village who have also been shown as ‘dead’ and denied the debt waiver benefit. I have even approached the SDM in Barnala and requested him to instruct the cooperative department to set the record straight so that we (13) may also get the government assistance. But nothing has been done so far. I own 4 acres of land and am eligible for waiver of Rs 46,826,’’ he said.Another aggrieved farmer Jarnail Singh, who also owns 4 acre land and is eligible to get waiver of Rs 52,544, claimed, “I provided all the documents to prove I was alive. Besides, everyone in the village cooperative society is well aware that I am not dead. I keep meeting them; yet remain in the category of ‘dead’. I am still struggling to get my status changed.”Another marginal farmer Sukhwant Singh, who owns a oneacre landholding and is eligible for Rs 29,070 waiver, said, “For me, even this (Rs 29,070) amount means a lot as there is hardly any earning from the land and I am not in a position to repay the loan.”Cooperative society secretary Jeet Singh said they had received a list from the assistant registrar’s office nearly six months ago and it showed over 30 people as dead, when they were actually alive.“At a camp held at Kotduna village near here, I had informed the officials about the error and had provided the Aadhaar cards of these 30 people. I had even uploaded the Aadhaar cards on the official portal. After some time, the status of 17 beneficiaries changed, but 13 remained as ‘dead’ and they remain so despite me providing the Aadhaar cards again. Only a week ago, we got the list again — showing them as ‘dead’,” he said.Barnala SDM Sandeep Kumar, when contacted, said, “We are trying to ascertain whose fault it is. An inquiry has been marked, to be conducted by the deputy registrar of cooperative societies, to find out how these living persons have been shown as dead and denied the benefits for which they are eligible. Whosoever is found guilty, appropriate action will be taken in the matter and the record will be set right.”