'Be Humane': Sitharaman to SBI After Video of Old Woman Walking Barefoot To Collect Pension From State Bank of India Branch in Odisha’s Nabrangpur Goes Viral

New Delhi, April 21: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday pulled up country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), asking it to act humanely, after tagging a video on her Twitter handle of an old village woman, walking barefoot in scorching heat with the help of a broken chair, to collect her pension from the nearest branch.

The woman in the video, identified as Surya Harijan, lives in Odisha's Nabrangpur district, and stays with her younger son, who grazes other people's cattle. Her elder son is a migrant labourer in another state. Nirmala Sitharaman Pulls Up SBI Over Video of Elderly Woman Forced To Walk Barefoot To Collect Pension in Odisha, State Bank of India Reacts to Finance Minister's Tweet.

Nirmala Sitharaman Asks SBI to Act Humanely

The family lives in a hut and doesn't own any land, as per reports. Sitharaman tweeted while sharing the video, "Can see the manager of SBI responding but yet wish Department of Financial Services (DFS) and the SBI to take cognisance of this and act humanely. Are they no bank Mitra?" Odisha: Elderly Woman Forced to Walk Several Kms in Scorching Heat Just to Collect Pension in Nabarangpur (Watch Video).

The incident took place on April 17. The SBI responded to Sitharaman's tweet and said the woman pension will be delivered at her doorstep from next month onwards. It added that she would also be given a wheelchair. As per reports, the woman is forced to physically collect her pension as her thumb print doesn't match with her records.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 21, 2023 06:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).