Delegates at the launch of Suraksha, an initiative to help elderly people, in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 1: A youth group in the city has started an initiative to improve the quality of life of senior citizens by making personal visits at their homes to check on their health and well-being.
Youngsters under the banner Jai Odisha launched the initiative, Suraksha, through which they plan to help the elderly in their day-to-day activities. The group will also help them get registered with the senior citizen cell of police.
'We will make weekly calls to check on their well-being. There will be personal visits by volunteers every 15 days to boost their sense of security and confidence,' said Jai Odisha president Rudra Samantaray.
This apart, the group will help senior citizens in getting police verification of their domestic helpers, drivers and others.
'The elderly can be easily exploited and cheated by domestic helpers. So, we want to ensure that they get authentic people as helpers, who have proper identification,' Rudra said. The group members will create awareness among the senior citizens about various available options to address their security concerns. They will also teach them the usage of Internet and smart phones.
Around 100 senior citizens, along with former diplomat Abasar Beuria and retired IAS officer Suresh Mantry, attended the launch of Suraksha.
'Senior citizens should not feel lonely. It is the responsibility of the society to come together and help them,' Beuria said. Various discussions were held with the elderly on health problems faced by them and their remedial measures.
Earlier, the group helped to provide clothes to the underprivileged people by setting up an apparel store called Vastra at Saheed Nagar, where poor people could get clothes for free.
'The initiative aims to help the underprivileged people through simple enterprises,' Rudra said.
'The store provides a clothing item to a person on producing an Aadhaar or ration card. A person can avail himself of this opportunity only once a month. We have put certain guidelines to make sure that the clothes are not misused,' he said.
