Ensuring the safety as well as rights of the elderly people has always been a huge challenge in Haryana as. Incidents of neglect of the elderly people by their children, assault and crime have been continuously reported, requiring the police department along with the statement to come up with necessary measures. Surfacing such incidents continuously led to questioning the law and order situation in the state as well. In this series,last year, the Haryana government initiated Prahari Scheme for the elderly, under which the duty of volunteers or government employees will be imposed to inquire about the well-being of these elderly people, who will personally meet them once a month.The officers and volunteers who will be assigned duty under the scheme will meet the elderly at regular intervals and inquire about their well-being and ensure that nothing wrong is happening to them.
Official data obtained has revealed that elderly people above 80 years of age are alone at large scale in the state and are seeking assistance. ‘’Prahari’’ Yojana has been started for the elderly above 80 years of age. Recently, the data disclosed under the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP( Scheme revealed that there are about 3.30 lakh elderly people above the age of 80 years, out of which 3600 are living completely alone. In this sense, more than 1 percent of the elderly aged 80 years and above are completely alone and destitute seeking assistance in the form of medical protection, shelter or money for routine expenditure .
It is pertinent to mention that one of the legislators sought the information in the recent assembly session asking the details pertaining to the district wise number of persons above the age of 80 years, the number of Government servants and their rank who have been assigned the duty to visit the elderly once every two months, the number of elderly persons who have been visited personally by the Government servants and their frequency; and whether any data has been collected by the Government regarding the requirements/needs of the elderly persons above the age of 80 years?
In a reaction to aforesaid , the information tabled in the assembly mentioned that Under Prahari Scheme, a “Prahari App” has been launched on 26.06.2023 in which data is being uploaded by Praharis. Praharis have been directed to upload data of persons of 75 years of age and above and also to visit them regularly. However, no data is available in the Prahari App specifically for senior citizens over 80 years of age. Besides, a total of 12421 police officials belonging to the ranks of Constable to Sub- Inspector and Home Guards/Special Police Officers have been appointed as Praharis/ Assistant Praharis and they have been assigned the duty to visit the elderly once every 15 days. Praharis and Assistant Praharis are visiting elderly people as per standing order issued in this regard but no such data is being uploaded in the App at present, as per Prahari Scheme.
One of the senior official said that if any elderly person needs medical help, protection of property or any other kind of help, then his problem will be solved through the concerned department and under the Senior Citizens Seva Ashram Scheme, the elderly living alone will be looked after by the government in Seva Ashrams.For the care of the elderly, 14 day care centers are being run in 13 districts – Bhiwani, Gurugram, Hisar, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panipat, Panchkula, Rohtak, Rewari, Sirsa, Yamunanagar, Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh. Apart from this, an old age home is also functioning in Panchkula. If an elderly person requires medical aid, protection of property or any other assistance, he will be provided assistance through the concerned government department. Apart from this, land has been earmarked for the construction of this ashram in 14 districts of the state.
In these ashrams, the needy elderly will get free accommodation, food and other facilities, while the affluent elderly will have to pay fees for this. To serve senior citizens, old age homes are currently being run by the Red Cross Society in Ambala, Panchkula and Panipat. During conversations with the elders in many districts of Haryana, it was revealed that they believe that the government should implement this scheme on the ground.
If this scheme remains limited to paper then it will be of no use. With this scheme, the dignity of the elders of Haryana will be maintained, because the children of many elders throw them out of the house. This is a commendable step for them and there should be a separate ashram for the elderly in every district of Haryana state.