Grater Hyderabad elders observed protest day on 16th August

Staged dharna at Indira Park – Formed Human Chain

HYDERABAD: Hundreds of senior citizens in Greater Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts gathered at Indira park dhana chowk to express their anguish and protest against the indifferent attitude of the central and state governments towards senior citizens in the country. They held the national protest day, following the call given by joint action committee on 16^th August. Senior citizens, above 70 and 80 years age, came to Indira park from far away places and participated with a great enthusiasm in the protest in scorching sun, wearing black badges. They staged a dharna and formed a human chain from Indira park to Sri Ramakrishna mutt.

The members alleged that owing to the “negligent attitude” of the state governments, more than 66 percent of senior citizens are struggling even for daily bread, 90 percent of them are suffering from health problems and 73 percent are forced to work. The senior citizens, who participated in the protest, criticized the government that it did not make any special allocation for the aged, whose population is more than 10 crores in the country.

Though the union government introduced the National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) a decade ago, the State governments and the union territories did not take steps to implement it. Even the state governments have failed to implement The Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizen’s Act, introduced three years ago to provide social justice and economic stability to them. The senior citizens demanded that Prime Minister must instruct all the state governments to strictly implement the NPOP and MWPSC and to provide proper facilities to senior citizens. They also appealed him to direct the state governments to open separate wings to hear the grievances of the senior citizens.

Further, they also demanded 50 percent concession in rail and bus travelling. Particularly, the AP senior citizens are demanding the implementation of Arogya Sree health insurance policy to all senior citizens above 60 years because the medical expenses have become unbearable even to middle class retired persons.

They opined that the plight of senior citizens belonging to even middle class was getting worse and their real income out of their meager savings was dwindling due to inflation. Hence, they are demanding two percent additional interest on their fixed deposits in banks and post offices. The dharna was addressed by Telugu Desam, BJP, CPIM, Loksatta and elite of the city and they expressed their solidarity to the movement of senior citizens.

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