A video showing a tribal woman carrying her 90-year-old mother-in-law on her back went viral on social media this week. Reports claimed that the woman walked nearly 3 km to collect her mother-in-law's monthly ₹500pension from a bank.
The video, which was widely shared on social media, with netizens saying it "exposed the disarray in the government system" and “highlighted the massive gap between government schemes and ground reality."
INC Chhattisgarh was among the social media handles that shared the video on X. It caption on the clip read: “The helplessness of the public and the insensitivity of the BJP government!!!”
“A 90-year-old elderly tribal woman has to be carried 9 kilometers every month to the bank for pension verification, while on the other hand, the Union Home Minister and the state government never tire of making grand speeches about tribal welfare from public platforms,” the X post read.
What exactly happened?
The incident took place in the Mainpat development block in Chhattisgarh on Friday, according to news agency PTI.
In the video, the woman, identified as Sukhmaniya, who is in her late 50s, is seen walking along a road with her elderly mother-in-law on her back.
She told the person recording the video that earlier, a 'Bank Mitra' used to deliver the monthly pension of ₹500 at her home, but she had not received the pension for the last three to four months as the KYC process had not been completed.
Sukhmaniya, a resident of Jangalpara village in the Kunia area, travelled around 3 km to reach the Central Bank of India branch in Mainpat town.
Mainpat Janpad Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Khushboo Shastri said on Sunday that a Bank Mitra had earlier been visiting the woman's house every month to deliver the pension amount.
"In January, the pension was delivered at her home for the last time. The service was stopped over the past four months due to pending KYC formalities," she was quoted by PTI as saying.
What happened next?
On May 22, Sukhmaniya reached the bank branch carrying her mother-in-law on her back without informing anyone.
After the KYC formalities were completed at the branch, the bank immediately released the pending pension amount of ₹2,000 for four months, Shastri said.
The official said the Central Bank of India branch in Mainpat has seven Bank Mitras who deliver pension money at the doorstep of beneficiaries who are unable to visit the bank.
"From next month onwards, Sukhmaniya's mother-in-law will again receive the pension amount at her home," she added.
