Md Enamul Haque, a living and breathing individual, has recently discovered a shocking truth.

According to the local social service office, he's been dead for nearly three years!

Enamul, a physically challenged individual of Goalbari union under Moulvibazar's Juri upazila, has been receiving disability allowance since 2018.

But the payment suddenly stopped towards the end of 2023. So he recently visited the social service office with his allowance card in hand to learn the reason.

"You have been dead for three years," an official told Enamul. The official records showed Enamul breathed his last in April 2021.

The cause of this celestial confusion? A death certificate, signed by the Goalbari Union Parishad Chairman Md Abdul Qayyum and Member Zainal Abedin, declaring Enamul deceased.

Meanwhile, he has not received his monthly allowances since 2023. "I am a person with disability. I need the money to survive," he told this correspondent recently.

Enamul is not the only soul in the union experiencing "afterlife" while being very much alive.

Shaira Begum, Sharijun Nesha and Anjali Rani Deb of the union have also been removed from the disability allowance list thanks to a mysterious update in October last year. The three were shown dead in July 2021.

The four now find themselves in the strange predicament of having to prove they are still alive to a system that is already convinced of their demise.

Unless new paperwork declares their resurrection, these four individuals of Goalbari union won't receive their rightful allowances.

Contacted, UP Chairman Abdul Qayyum said, "We were asked to issue death certificates for the mentioned individuals by the upazila social service office, so we did. Later, I found out that these people are alive, and new certificates have been requested to include them in the allowance list."

Abdullah Al Mahmud Chowdhury, social service officer (additional duty) in Juri upazila, said all UPs are requested to periodically provide updated information about the beneficiaries.

"The social service office has no responsibility in this context. Those mistakenly excluded from the list as deceased will be reinstated," he said.

Lusikanta Hajong, UNO of Juri upazila, said, "The matter will be investigated on an urgent basis and necessary action will be taken against those involved."