Bhubaneswar: An 85-year-old woman reportedly fainted on her way to a bank to get her old age pension in Odisha’s Puri district today. The incident took place in Sakhigopal area of Puri.

The woman, identified as Sukanti Dei, reportedly walked around 2 km under the scorching sun to collect her pension money from Odisha Grameen Bank’s Sarangjodi branch in Puri district.

However, she fainted midway. The villagers rescued the elderly woman and rushed her to a nearby hospital. 

Adding to her woes, the bank officials reportedly informed the woman’s family that the money under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana of the state government is yet to be credited to her account.  

The incident has invited sharp reactions from the locals as well as social activists.

The elderly woman has not received pensions for last 3 months

The villagers, meanwhile, claimed that the octogenarian woman has not received her old age pensions for last three months. She was facing financial crunch in arranging medicines for her health complications, claimed the villagers.    

The bank officials, meanwhile, revealed that pension money has not been credited to the accounts of some beneficiaries of Madhu Babu Pension Yojana due to delay in correction of the IFSC code.

“We have written to the authorities of the Satyabadi block to take the necessary steps to facilitate the correction in the IFSC code with regard to the beneficiaries bank accounts. We are waiting for the detailed data in this regard from the block authorities,” said an official of the bank.

Satyabadi BDO Debashish Nayak said the authorities will take the necessary steps for early payment of the pension money to the elderly woman.

“We have taken the incident seriously. Some issues related to the IFSC code might have caused the problem. We will make all arrangements for early payment of pension money to the elderly woman,” he said.