Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, said on Thursday that the government will sanction a day centre for senior citizens in the State budget next year. He was speaking after inaugurating the International Day for Older Persons, organised by the Departments for Empowerment of Senior Citizens, Women and Child Welfare and others, here.
Mr. Sorake said that the day centre was a long pending demand of senior citizens and efforts would be made to provide it.
The Department for Empowerment of Senior Citizens had distributed identity cards to 11,426 senior citizens in the district.
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The senior citizens’ helpline, which was launched on October 1, 2014, had received 536 calls and 85 complaints. Of these 85 complaints, 54 had been disposed of.
An old-age home had been started at the Spoortidhama in Kedoor at a cost of Rs. 8 lakh with funds made available by the zilla panchayat in the present fiscal and it would take care of the needs of 25 beneficiaries.
“But it is essential that the youth realized that they should take care of their aged parents and not send them to old-age homes. Our culture lays emphasis on taking care of their parents,” he said.
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Various awareness programmes were conducted to make the senior citizens aware of the facilities meant for them. They were also being provided with information related to health and their legal rights, he added.
Senior citizens could lodge their complaints or grievances if the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (MWPSC) Act, 2007, were violated, with the Assistant Commissioner. As many as 11 senior citizens were felicitated on the occasion. They are: Vithoba Kamath (freedom fighter), K. Shamaraya Acharya, Raghuram Shetty, Aroor Vishnumurthy, C.S. Rao (social work), Devendra Pejathaya (literature), U. Sakharam Servegar, Geeta K. Bhat (education), Pundarikaksha Upadhyaya (Yakshagana), Arunakala, Y. Kumaraswamy (sports). The best organization award went to Udupi Senior Citizens Association.