BHUBANESWAR: In its bid to check the incidents of crime and harassment against senior citizens, Commissionerate Police on Saturday organised an interactive session with them.
More than 100 elderly, who attended the programme, put forth their worries and demands before the Commissioner of Police, RP Sharma, officials of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA).
One of the major demands made by the senior citizens was setting up a desk at each police station (PS) and a toll-free helpline number.
Sharma said since each police station already has a nodal officer to deal with the complaints of senior citizens, setting up another desk was not a feasible option. He, however, asked the Senior Citizen's Forum to submit a proposal for a dedicated toll-free helpline to the Home Department.
Many elderly pointed out lack of patrolling during morning and evening hours when most of them go for a walk.
They cited that in the recent past there have been incidents of anti-socials troubling elderly women, during that time. Sharma assured of enhancing patrolling in vulnerable areas like Chandrasekharpur, Laxmi Sagar and Old Town.
To make the exercise more effective, Sharma said he will meet senior citizens every week on Monday from 12 noon to 2 pm while Deputy Commissioner Nitinjeet Singh will hear the elderly on Friday during the same time. On the other hand, the Inspector-in-charge and Deputy Commissioner of Police were directed to monitor the activities of nodal officers on a monthly basis.
Sharma also asked the BMC officials to expedite construction and repair of pavements wherever necessary after some of the elderly raised the issue of dilapidated pathways posing danger to pedestrians.
Project Officer of BMC, Srimant Mishra said the Corporation proposes to set up two daycare centres and an old age home at IRC village and Chandrasekharpur respectively.
Senior citizen cards with details about the person concerned and emergency contact numbers have been issued to 905 persons by Commissionerate Police.