70-year-old woman walks barefoot to withdraw pension, video goes viral
What's the story
A heart-wrenching video has surfaced on social media, showing a 70-year-old woman walking barefoot in scorching heat for several kilometers with the help of a broken chair to collect her old-age pension from a bank. The incident reportedly happened in Banuaguda village in the Jharigaon block of Odisha's Nabarangpur district on Monday. The woman in the clip was identified as Surya Harijan.
Details
FM Sitharaman asks SBI to take cognizance
Expressing concern, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday tweeted and asked the State Bank of India (SBI) to take cognizance of Harijan's situation. In response, the SBI said Harijan used to withdraw pension from her village's bank. However, due to old age, her fingerprints stopped matching at the branch. The bank added that her pension would be delivered to her doorstep beginning next month.
Twitter Post
Check out FM Sitharaman's tweet
Can see the manager of the @TheOfficialSBI responding but yet wish @DFS_India and @TheOfficialSBI take cognisance of this and act humanely. Are they no bank Mitra? @FinMinIndia https://t.co/a9MdVizHim
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 20, 2023
More information
Harijan hasn't received pension for last 4 months
Notably, the woman was provided with her pension on hand earlier. However, the systems at the bank changed and since then the money was being transferred online to her account. Due to aging, sometimes Harijan's left thumb impressions at her bank branch don't work and thus she had to go to another bank. She reportedly hasn't received her pension for the last four months.