Amid the nationwide lockdown owing to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic, homeless people and daily wage workers, who migrate to big cities from their home towns in search of jobs, are combating hunger for survival as the fast-spreading disease has now created a panic situation across India.
The situation had gone from bad to worse and during this crisis, celebrities, entrepreneurs, businessmen rose to the occasion by doing their best to help the country combat the pandemic.
The coronavirus epidemic has thrown up another upsetting image of poverty, desperation and an insensitive system, this time from Odisha. Odisha has over 4,000 cases of coronavirus – 1,190 of them active and 11 deaths – with numbers increasing gradually.
A video surfaced from Nuapada district, 433 km from Bhubaneswar showed that an elderly woman dragged a 100-year-old mother on a cot to a bank in order to withdraw her pension money.
State Bank of India branch manager allegedly asked for physical verification of the 100-year-old beneficiary and also refused to release the pension without it, so the young woman was forced to take a difficult journey by dragging her bed-ridden mother on cot to bank.
After the video went viral on all social media platforms, SBI had suspended manager Ajit Pradhan of Bargaon branch.
“While the Branch Manager did not have any intention of harassment, the unfortunate developments have resulted out of a communication gap resulting in a display of inhuman and insensitive approach in the bank’s treatment of senior citizens. Utkal Grameen Bank regrets the whole incident and the matter is being looked into for necessary action,” said a statement from the SBI.