India Post helped 30 lakh people with doorstep cash withdrawal

During the corona-induced lockdown I in April, Santosh Bansal, a marginal farmer of Sitapur wanted to withdraw Rs 5000 urgently for medical treatment of his wife. It was impossible to go to his bank located 15 kilometres away, so he called the postman in his village for help.

In a few hours the village postman arrived at Bansal’s door on his cycle. He had a mobile phone in which he punched Bansal’s bank and Aadhar card details and handed him Rs 5,000.

This service, called Aadhar-enabled Payment System(AePS) to dispense cash to those who cannot reach the nearest ATM or bank branch, is provided by India Post Payment Bank run by the Indian Postal Services. Anyone with an Aadhar-linked bank account in any bank across India can withdraw a maximum of Rs 10,000 in a day using AePS.

The service is a blessing for people living in rural areas where a postman or post office is easier to access than the traditional banking facilities.

Chief Postmaster General of Uttar Pradesh Kaushalendra Sinha said that his department made it a point to reach out to as many people as possible to provide this service during the lockdown.

“Having money in hand makes things easier, specially corona times where people are told to remain at home,” said Krishna Kumar Yadav, director, Postal Services, Lucknow Headquarters region.

With the help of 20,000 representatives, the postal service provided cash to people across the state during lockdown. The postman handed cash to a fisherman in his boat in the middle of Saryu river in Ayodhya, to a general store owner deep inside the forest in Bahraich and to farmers working in their field in east UP.

“During the lockdown period we disbursed over Rs 496 crore to around 30 lakh people across Uttar Pradesh. Majority of these beneficiaries is farmers, daily wage earners and labourers,” said Sinha.

Through the service, the department also disbursed cash benefits provided by the government under various schemes. “We disbursed old age pension, handicap pension and various schemes under DBT(Direct Benefit Transfer), directly to the beneficiary,” the officer said. “This not only made things easier for them but also protected them against going out and taking the risk of getting infected,” he added.

Considering the ease of operation, several camps were held in over 20 districts across the state with help from the local administration. The camps were held in remote places. Villagers were able to withdraw money from their account via AEPS at these camps.

The department has also trained the postmen to follow all precautions suggested by the government to prevent Covid-19 infection.

Besides delivering cash to people, the postal department also ferried over 23 tonnes of medicines across UP. The department is also delivering essential items including, PPE kits, ventilators and Covid-19 testing kits to hospitals in UP.