70-yr-old Odisha woman walks barefoot using broken chair to collect pension

CHENNAI: A 70-year-old woman known as Surya Harijan, who hails from Jharigaon village in Odisha, was allegedly seen walking barefoot for several kilometers only to collect her old age pension from a bank in Odisha's Nabarangpur district.

A video of her walking on the road in scorching heat with the support of a broken chair is now going viral on social media platforms. The incident is reportedly said to have happened in Banuaguda village in the Jharigaon block of the district.

"Her fingers are broken, so she is facing trouble withdrawing money. We'll resolve the problem soon," the SBI manager of Jharigaon branch was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

Reacting to the video, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the Department of the Finance Services and the State Bank of India should take cognisance of the matter. "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."

State Bank of India replied to the Union Finance Minister's comment and wrote, "Madam, we are equally pained to see this video. Smt Surya Harijan in the video used to withdraw her old age pension from the CSP point situated in her village every month. Due to old age, her finger prints were not matching at the CSP point."

"She visited our Jharigaon Branch with her relative. Our Branch Manager immediately paid the amount by manually debiting her account. Our Branch Manger has also communicated that her pension will be delivered to her doorstop from next month. We have also decided to handover a wheelchair to Smt Surya Harijan @ANI," they added