Bhubaneswar: After a viral video, suspension of a bank manager and public outcry, a bank finally reached the doorstep of a bedridden centenarian woman to enable her to withdraw cash.
On June 9, a video in social media showed centenarian Labhe Bag lying on a cot and being dragged by her 60-year-old daughter on the road to Baragaon branch of Utkal Grameen Bank in Nuapada to get COVID-19 assistance money of Rs 1,500.
Earlier, the bank manager had refused to give the money and asked the woman’s daughter for thumb impression of her mother.
After the video went viral and there was a huge outcry, the manager was suspended and public sector India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) extended its helping hand to the elderly woman.
The bank helped her open a bank account, through which she can withdraw the cash at her doorstep using Aadhaar Enabled Payment System. The centenarian woman is an account holder of the Centre’s Jan Dhan Yojana.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took to Twitter to inform the development on Friday. “Had learnt from media about difficulty faced by a very old lady in Odisha in withdrawing cash from her bank account. Happy to share that India Post Payments bank helped her by opening a bank account. Now she can withdraw cash at her doorstep using Aadhaar Enabled Payment System,” the Minister tweeted.
