Jamshedpur-based rights outfit starts forum to run errands for senior citizens
Jamshedpur: The senior citizens of Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, can now breathe easy, thanks to a newly formed club dedicated to serve the elderly.
A human rights body, Jharkhand Human Rights Conference (JHRC), based in this steel city, has set up a forum, Senior Citizen Welfare and Recreation Club, to help elderly residents tackle their day-to-day problems.
The elderly living alone have been finding it difficult chores such as visit to a doctor, paying bills, calling an electrician or buying medicines as their children are away working in other states or overseas.
The seniors can simply delegate the same to some other reliable people, who are happy to run the errands for them.
The club started functioning from an address at Hemsingh Bagan along Kalimati Road in Sakchi in the last week of December.
Speaking about their initiative, JHRC president Manoj Misra said the idea was to reach out a helping hand to the elders, who have fallen victim to the pressures and pulls of the fast-paced urban life.
“A lot of Jamshedpur’s senior citizens are living alone. After finishing their education, their sons and daughter have moved out for bright careers and high-paid jobs. With this young generation getting busy with their lives and preferring to stay on their own, the aged parents have to fend for themselves back home. We just spared a thought for these helpless people,” Mishra told The Telegraph.
He added that the nature of assistance would relate to paying telephone bills for the senior citizens, fetching medicines even at odd hours, sending electrician to their home to fix a snag, buying train tickets etc.
“We have a dedicated team of volunteers, who will do all this for free. Our functionaries will keep regular contact with the elderly people over telephone or through personal visits,” Mishra said.
He explained that only members of Senior Citizen Welfare and Recreation Club would be able to avail their services. As of now, the club has 112 members, who enrolled with the organization through a clinic.
Prior to setting up the senior citizen club, JHRC started a free health clinic for elderly people in Sakchi in the first week of December.
“The clinic functions for three hours from 10 am every Sunday, where we check the blood pressure and sugar level of the visitors. Those visiting the clinic have been made members of the senior citizen club, who can avail our premises,” Mishra said, adding that the membership count was increasing every week.
The elderly people are more than happy.
“It is a very good thing to have a senior citizen club in the city. Many elderly couples like us will be benefited,” said Sushil Kumar Srivastava, a resident of Mango who is member of the club.
Many others like Keshab Prasad Sahu, Harinarayan Das, Nirmal Devi, Swarn Kaur, Sri Ram and D. Banerjee, hailing from various localities, appreciated the move.