There are approximately 81,00,000 senior citizens in India and nearly 30% of these senior citizens stay alone. Many Pan India surveys have revealed that a sizeable chunk of this population face serious concerns related to their safety, security, health, legal problems etc.

Often, these senior citizens are physically incapacitated in some way or the other, which prevents them for visiting a police station or any other agency for their safety and security. Many a times, they are not able to receive appropriate medical attention in times of crisis and sometimes, certain legal issues pertaining to property and other matters leave then at a total loss as far as redressal of these problems is concerned.

Pronam is the Joint Initiative of the Kolkata Police and The Bengal with the objective aim to redress these problems. A 24X7 helpline (033-24190740) has been launched under the Pronam service, which will cater to the needs of senior citizens who stay alone.

Career fair for senior citizens

To help senior citizens to step into life with second career options after retirement, the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) is holding a senior citizen mela to help them train and choose career options.

The senior citizen mela was held at Rabindra Tirtha in New Town Rajarhat adjacent to Kolkata from Friday and will continue till Monday, WBHIDCO sources said.

In the mela workshops are being held to help senior citizens learn on cooking and home delivery, IT and Desktop publishing, Handicraft and run a boutique, beautician course to run a beauty parlour, so that they can start their second career options, the sources said.

Seminars are being held on legal matters, developing writing skills and net publishing, home tourism, financial management, diabetics’ – know your numbers – way to a healthy life to help senior citizens, they said.