ROURKELA: Sixty-eight-year-old Teresa Barla of Badmal village in Sundargarh district was seen crawling to a bank, on Wednesday for something as basic as to check if her Aadhaar number was linked to her savings account and withdraw money.
Though crawling is a way of life for her as she has been challenged since birth, her effort to reach the bank doorsteps after traveling in an auto-rickshaw to the SBI’s Grahak Seva Kendra (GSK) at Kutra block headquarters, which is 20 km away from Badmal, has raised concerns among onlookers. Villagers however wondered as to why she went all the way to Kutra when an SBI GSK is also functional in her village. Teresa too could not explain it.
To the question, she was reported as saying, “I wanted to check if my Aadhaar number was linked to my SBI savings account and withdraw money.” After some people raised a hue and cry, a preliminary inquiry was conducted on Thursday by the panchayat samiti. Even SBI authorities met Teresa, recording her statement to understand the circumstances that forced her to travel all the way to Kutra.
Badmal Naib Sarpanch Sayum Samad said Teresa used to stay separately from her family and has been directly getting an old age pension and availing banking services from the Badmal GSK. “For unknown reasons, she on Wednesday took an auto-rickshaw to reach Kutra block headquarters without seeking help of anyone. More than a decade ago she had received a tri-cycle and again a new tri-cycle was given to her now,” he added.
Anugraha Beck, who managed the Badmal GSK, mentioned that Teresa had not visited the GSK for the past two months. However, cases like that of Teresa and many elderly facing inconvenience, highlight the inadequate banking penetration to the rural pockets of the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district.
Lead Bank sources reveal that 96 out of 279 panchayats in the district are still unbanked, lack any bank branches. The rural population faces challenges in availing financial services and benefits from various central and state schemes in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. Nationalized or private banks are reportedly unwilling to set up branches due to lack of internet access, poor road connectivity, scattered population and fear of loss in business.