BHUBANESWAR: In the remote Konapadi village - some 19 km from Laxmipur tehsil in Maoist-infested Koraput district of Odisha - people queue up, their faces covered with cloth, as soon as they see Salami Shashankar. She is a 27-year-old outsourced staff of State Bank of India (SBI)’s Laxmipur branch. To keep lives rolling in more than 20 tribal hamlets adjoining her native Toyaput village, Salami has been travelling to each of these places on a two-wheeler for providing banking services to needy customers since March 25.
For these tribals, who now call her ‘bank madam’ as a mark of endearment, she is the only medium of availing various State and Centre Government subsidies. There aren’t any chairs or table - neither did she expect one - at her on-the-wheel workstation. Soon after reaching her remote customer points, she looks for leaves shed by trees. “I gather leaves so that I am able to make a bed spreading over half a metre. That’s my work station and seat for the next five to six hours.
None of my customers are allowed to trespass my work zone,” she says. The bag she carries to her destinations each day contains 70 withdrawal and deposit slips, stamp pad, a laptop and cash around Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000, pen, a 60-page register book and, of course, a hand sanitizer. Thanks to her affectionate customers, her lunch hours are usually made full-filling with packets of biscuits, sweets and water they offer. A thorough professional, Salami has her plan of action chalked out to ensure safe transactions.
On her first day to a village, she identifies a local youth - who is popular in the village for his honesty. “The person acts as a connector between me and the villagers. Whenever I visit the village, I request the youth to inform all others. They follow his order and queue up accordingly. This makes my task easier,” the Customer Service Point executive, who has so far visited at least 10 villages, including Sorisapadar, Uskabhata, Diansili, Podasankuli, etc, said. More than 1,000 customers have been benefited by her relentless service in times of dire need, acknowledges Laxmipur SBI Branch Manager, Ranjan Sahoo.
Salami’s work hours begin at 8 am and she returns to the branch between 4 pm and 5 pm so that accounting for the day could be closed. To reach far-off places, she prefers riding the pillion rider on her brother’s motorcycle. There have been days when she has either walked 4 km alone or rode around 8 km through a deserted route to reach the customers. On the first day, Salami felt insecure. “Miscreants could easily murder me for the cash but I kept praying to God. I knew he will save me from danger as I am on my way to help his people,” she said.
On a single day, she doesn’t cater to more than 250 customers in a village, limiting her cash transactions between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000, to ensure safety. Moreover, it’s a rule in these villages now - whenever she arrives, the villagers walk up to her with their Adhaar cards and passbooks without fail.
An Arts graduate from Laxmipur College, Salami was hired as a contractual staff in collaboration with Odisha Livelihood Mission in December 2019. Prior to the pandemic, she offered service to the customers from her tiny permanent workstation on the premises of Toyaput Panchayat Office. “When the lockdown was announced, she wanted to reach her customers at any cost. So, we provided her with the laptop and the rest, she managed on her own,” added Sahoo.