Dy manager of BoM delivers pensions at doorsteps of elderly

Employee from Bhavani Peth branch had sought special permission to enter containment zone, make the payouts

At a time when the fear of the pandemic is reigning strong, a deputy bank manager has taken personal banking to a new level, volunteering to doordeliver pensions of his bank’s customers, who are ill-equipped to access money from ATMs or do online banking.

Realising that 28 per cent of the pensioners with accounts in his branch are over 80 years of age and mostly technologically challenged, the deputy manager of Bank of Maharashtra’s Bhavani Peth branch chose to reach their pensions home in cash. In fact, 59-year-old Rajeev Ranjan even sought special permission from his branch head and zonal manager to enter the containment zone to make the payout to the needy. While he is handling the accounts from his zonal office in Shivajinagar, he has to keep visiting the jurisdiction of his branch which is a containment zone.

Ranjan has been at it since April 10, taking care of over a 100 account holders, giving them hard cash when they needed it most — during the lockdown. The zealous officer says he will continue to render the service till the lockdown ends.

“The Bhavani Peth branch is one of the oldest in the city, with a history of 68 years behind it. It handles 2,500 pension accounts, dispensing this fund to many former state and central government employees, including ex-servicemen. Some of them are so old that they come to the branch accompanied by a relative. We attend to a lot of widow pensioners, too. The branch was closed due to the pandemic, but seeing their plight, I decided to provide the service. I informed my subordinate Deepak Gadekar and he volunteered to join me. At a time like this, we need to bend the rules,” Ranjan told Mirror.

Commending their efforts, the chief manager of the branch, Tanuj Datta, pointed out, “The citizen is our priority. We are proud of our staff who’ve gone beyond the call of their duty to support our customers during this pandemic. Inspired by them, we’ve also waived off the service charges we usually recover from pensioners.”

Ranjan’s beneficiaries are only grateful for his thoughtful gesture. “We managed to get the pension for April. But the closure of the branch made me and my daughter anxious about getting the money, which we routinely collect physically, dependent as we are on the pension for our survival. But to our immense surprise, we got a call from the bank manager on Tuesday and subsequently. He showed up at our doorstep to deliver the money,” recounted 90-year-old Sungabi Maqbul Shaikh, widow of an air force officer.

Similarly, a retired employee of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Tukaram Jadhav, appreciated, “I have mobility issues due to age-related ailments. I usually visit the branch with the help of my neighbours. But these are times when nobody is willing to step out of their homes. The manager’s intervention is a big help.”