The hours-long wait of Jondhade Archana and Lokande Anasuyabai ends in disappointment when the bank teller informs them that the ₹1,500 as COVID-19 relief given by the State government has not been credited into their accounts for want of Aadhaar linkage.
The teller also disappoints others like Gadewar Lavanya, also from Heerapur village in Indervelli mandal in Adilabad district, by replying in the negative after checking her Aadhaar linked account.
Hundreds of bank customers, especially in the Agency areas, flock to respective banks every morning, queuing up in hot sun for their turn at the teller's counter only to be told to come the next day when probably the relief money gets credited into their accounts. The customers, especially women, are losing precious earning by not being able to report for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
According to Additional Collector G. Sandhya Rani, there are nearly 1.89 lakh white ration card holders in the district who are eligible to draw the COVID-19 relief and over 16,600 whose bank accounts are not linked with Aadhaar number. "We have made arrangements to pay the relief money through post offices to all those whose bank accounts are not linked to Aadhaar," she asserted.
Some bankers pointed out that the relief money is not getting credited into bank accounts of rural customers which were frozen owing to no transaction over a long period of time.
"In such cases we are reviving the account and crediting the money if the customer produces either his or her Aadhaar card or any other valid photo identity card," revealed Nikhil Kumar, manager of Indervelli branch of the Union Bank of India, when asked about frozen accounts.
Another factor which results in waste of time is the non linkage of mobile phone number of the customer with given bank account. "The customer/beneficiaries receive a message from the government the moment the amount gets credited in their accounts if it is linked with a mobile number," Mr. Kumar explained.
While illiteracy and poverty imposes constraints in the rural areas, only some women active in self-help groups only own a mobile handset. Moreover, even those numbers that are linked to bank accounts are changed constantly by villagers without realising that they need to update it with the bank.
The ideal way out, according to bankers is for the government to provide a village-wise list of beneficiaries. This will have all beneficiaries covered as well as prevent waste of precious time of bankers too, one of them opined.
