The postal department and the State Bank of India have come forward to ensure hassle-free disbursal of pensions to retired central and state government employees during the lockdown in Malda and minimise chances of senior citizens contracting Covid-19.
The department of posts sent employees to deliver cash to the pensioners at their doorsteps.
Pensioners like Malati Chakraborty, Sudhir Roy Chowdhury, Kamal Mishir and Mohammed Samsuddin were surprised to find the postal employees, donning gloves and masks, at their doors with withdrawal forms and cash. The employees asked for the elders’ left thumb impressions or signatures and delivered the cash to them with smiles.
“It would have been difficult to go to post offices to get the pension, particularly when rickshaws and e-rickshaws are off the road. A large amount of the pension is spent to buy medicines for me and the spouse,” said Roy Chowdhury.
“We have 323 pensioners and wanted to relieve them of the difficulty of coming to office during the lockdown and the coronavirus outbreak. So, we decided to hand over pensions to the beneficiaries at their doorsteps,” said Amal Krishna Ghosh, the superintendent of posts of Malda.
According to him, majority of the pensioners received the amounts on Friday and the rest would be paid on Saturday. “We have separate arrangements for other pensioners who volunteered to drop in our office.”
The Malda branch of the SBI deputed three employees to receive pensioners at the entrance and help them clean their hands with sanitisers.
Withdrawal forms were offered to the pensioners who were requested to take cash in multiples of Rs 5,000.
“We kept fresh and new notes of Rs 100 and Rs 50 ready for senior citizens keeping in view of their age. People of such ages are more vulnerable to Covid-19 as is being presumed by experts. So, we took all possible measures to keep the chances of infection away,” said Ujjwal Kumar, the chief manager of the SBI’s Malda branch.
Wheel-chairs were kept ready for physically-challenged pensioners and other senior citizens, who have difficulty in moving into bank premises. Instructions to withdraw money without difficulty were pasted in bold letters in English and other languages at the entrance.
“We are also planning to bring pensioners who could not step out of homes in the absence of public transport to the bank in our vehicles,” said a senior bank employee.
The beneficiaries of various central government schemes have started getting Rs 500 each at their doorsteps as 230 branches of different banks and 513 customer service points in the district engaged their staff members for the purpose.
A senior bank official said around 15 lakh families would receive this central assistance in Malda district.
In Birbhum also, the postal department disbursed pensions at the doorsteps of retired employees.
Sources said there were around 41,000 pensioners in Bengal who take their monthly pensions from post offices and of which 25 per cent are either above 80 or unable to reach post offices because of their illness.
“In this time, elderly people should not be exposed in public as per the protocol. So, we have taken the initiative. We will deliver pensions of all such persons at their doorstep. We have also spoken to the pensioners association before starting the drive,” said Niraj Kumar, the post master general, Calcutta.
People, who received their pension at home, welcomed the drive saying it was a good decision at a time the country was under the lockdown.
Debdas Ganguly, 82, a retired post office employee in Suri, received his pension at home from a group of postal department officials.
Ujjwal Kundu, assistant superintendent of post in Birbhum, said: “We have 47 such pensioners in the district and we reached out to 25 of them on Friday. We would send pensions to others in the next one or two days.”
The post offices serve pensions mainly to central government employees like railways, telephones, post offices. However, those who have pension accounts with the banks were found queuing up in front of the banks.
Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty
