Naveen Patnaik, the BJD chief and Leader of Opposition in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressing deep anguish over a horrifying incident in Keonjhar district. On April 27, a tribal man named Jeetu Munda was forced to exhume and carry his deceased sister’s skeletal remains to the Malliposi branch of Odisha Gramya Bank to prove her death. This extreme measure was taken after the bank reportedly insisted on the “physical presence” of the account holder to allow a withdrawal of ₹20,000 from her savings.
In his letter, Patnaik condemned the bank’s behavior as “inhuman conduct” and a betrayal of the citizens they are meant to serve. He particularly criticized the bank’s attempt to justify the incident by citing adherence to RBI guidelines, stating that in a democracy, rules should empower citizens rather than humiliate them. The BJD leader noted that the event has outraged public sentiment across Odisha and has drawn significant attention from both national and international media.
Patnaik urged the Finance Minister to immediately fix clear accountability for this lapse to ensure that rural banks provide services with empathy and compassion. He stressed the need for a more humane banking administration, especially in remote tribal areas, to prevent such incidents from ever happening again. The letter calls for a clear signal to be sent to all rural banking institutions to prioritize citizen-centric service delivery over rigid procedural adherence.
