KENDRAPARA/JAJPUR: As soon as the state government announced its flagship Subhadra Yojana, applicants made a beeline at service centres and post offices. Now, even as lakhs of women have been given the first installment of Rs 5,000 under the scheme, the queues remain, this time in front of banks.
A day after the first installment was disbursed, thousands of women lined up in front of banks and ATMs to withdraw the amount. Some who had not received the credit message from their banks were eager to check their balance. Sanju Das (32) of Srirampur rushed to the nearby bank to withdraw the amount. “I am glad after getting Rs 5,000 in my account. I need the money to purchase a bicycle for my nine-year-old son. I hope today the bank does not run out of cash,” she said while waiting in queue with hundreds of other beneficiaries.
Manasi Behera of Garadapur village said, “I waited four hours but by the time my turn came, the bank shut down. I will visit the bank again on Thursday to withdraw the amount.” However, Mita Mallick (28) of Mandapada village was lucky as she managed to withdraw the amount after standing for four hours in a long queue at the branch of SBI at Pattamundai. “I will use the money to buy a sewing machine,” she said.
A bank staff staff most of the beneficiaries do not have debit cards and they rushed to the banks to withdraw the amount. “We advised them to apply for debit cards soon,” he said. Several banks sought the help of private security personnel and police to manage the crowd and avoid a stampede.
In Jajpur, a mad rush of beneficiaries was seen at the Baliapal branch of Indian Bank. The beneficiaries lined up outside the bank since early in the morning to withdraw the first installment of the scheme. “I along with my neighbours had applied for the Subhadra scheme the same day last week. While they got messages on their mobile phones regarding credit of Rs 5,000 on Tuesday, I did not. So today I came to the bank to check my account,” said Yugaprava, a local.
A bank official said women customers have been coming to the bank to check their accounts or withdraw money after first tranche of payment under Subhadra scheme was credited to their bank accounts. Female cops and bank security staff were deployed, to tackle the crowd.