KARIMNAGAR: A day after TNIE published a story on an elderly couple living in a makeshift roadside hut under the headline “Elderly couple cling to life on a road”, District Collector Pamela Satpathy on Sunday acted swiftly and ensured that the couple — Kandukur Srinivas and Padma — were shifted to the Karimnagar Government Hospital.
Officials from the Department of Disabled Welfare, Senior Citizens and Transgender Persons, in coordination with MEPMA (Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas), moved the couple to the hospital in an ambulance. After medical treatment, Srinivas, who has been suffering from paralysis, will be shifted to a senior citizens’ care home, District Officer of the department M Saraswati told TNIE.
She added that Srinivas’s health has deteriorated and that a decision on his relocation to a care home for senior citizens would be taken based on his recovery.
Padma refused to move to an old-age home, requesting instead that the government provide them an Indiramma house, saying that she prefers permanent shelter over institutional care. Authorities assured her that her request for allotment of a house would be forwarded to higher officials.
Meanwhile, the collector instructed officials to conduct regular inspections to identify displaced individuals living on pavements and ensure that adequate shelter facilities are provided to them.