70-year-old woman walked barefoot in scorching heat to collect pension from bank

(Update: In a statement SBI has said that the nearest link branch, SBI Jharigaon, Odisha immediately paid the pension amount by debiting the amount manually from pensioner Surya Harijan's account. She has been reassured by the branch manager of delivery of pension at her doorstep going forward, SBI said.)

In a distressing incident, a 70-year-old woman in Odisha had to walk for several kilometres barefoot amid heat wave to get the pension from bank, but State Bank of India (SBI) employees returned her back as her thumb impression didn't match with the bank records. The incident reportedly happened in the Jharigaon block of Nabrangpur district of Odisha on April 17.

The video of the incident has gone viral on the social media. In the viral video, the frail old women can be seen walking barefoot in scorching heat with the support of a broken chair.



As per reports, the elderly woman, Surya Harijan, is very poor. Her older son is working as a migrant labourer in a different state. She is staying with her younger son's family and he makes his living grazing other people's cattle. The family has no land to plough and lives in a hut.

The lady went to the bank to get the pension, but she was told that her thumb is not matching the records, and she was forced to return home.

Reacting to the incident, the SBI manager has claimed that she is facing trouble in withdrawing money because of her "broken fingers" and the bank is working to resolve the problem.

"Her fingers are broken, so she is facing trouble withdrawing money. She has been given Rs 3,000 manually from the bank. We will resolve the problem soon," the SBI manager of the Jharigaon branch said.

(Inputs from ANI)