JEYPORE: AN 83-year-old woman of Banshaput village under Bandhugaon block in Koraput district died on Saturday morning, hours after she walked three kilometres to a bank to collect her old age pension.
The Utkal Gramya Bank branch of Bandhugaon, which the octogenarian Kanta Melaka had her pension account with, is barely three km from her village. On Friday, she had apparently gone to the bank to find out if her monthly pension has been deposited.
Villagers said Melaka along with two other women went to the Bandhugaon branch of the bank but due to heavy rush, she could not do any transaction and returned home. After her reaching home, the 83-year-old fell sick and collapsed in the wee hours of the day. Local residents said she had caught a severe cold after her return from the bank.
Official sources said the administration has already advised all the BDOs of the district to ensure monthly allowance of persons with disability (PwDs) and old age pension be delivered at their doorsteps but why the 83-year-old could not avail the same has raised questions. Bandhugaon BDO AB Sethi could not be contacted for his response.
On the other hand, manager of Bandhugaon branch of Utkal Gramya Bank Manoj Samantaray confirmed that Maleka was indeed a customer of the bank but had not collected money from the branch in the past.
“She had a record of collecting her pension from banking correspondents. She was not seen in the branch on Friday nor did she approach anyone”, he clarified.