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Aarti Kapur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 25
The two government-run old age homes in Sectors 15 and 43 in the city are receiving calls from senior citizens these days enquiring about the availability of accommodation. On an average, three calls are received by these homes every week from the elderly, who are looking for accommodation due to security concerns.
In most of these cases, the callers are either lone surviving members or aged couples staying alone.
An NGO, HelpAge India, has also received a large number of emails and calls from elderly couples in the city who want to know what options they have to stay in the city in case their spouse dies and they are left alone.
“I stay alone. Can you suggest me an old age home in the city where I can shift? Though I own a bungalow in a posh sector, I cannot stay there alone for security reasons.” These are among the enquiries HelpAge receives on its helpline from senior citizens.
HelpAge India state head Bhuvneshwar Sharma said last year only one such enquiry was received in a month by the helpline, but now the number had gone up to around three a week.
Couples can be seen visiting the Sector 43 old age home to find out the facilities being offered by the home.
In the Sector 15 old age home, there is accommodation for 32 inmates while in the Sector 43 home, 23 rooms are available. Sources said the old age homes in the city were also receiving calls from Punjab.
Census report
According to the census report, there are 67,078 senior citizens in the city, of whom 34,833 are men and 32,245 women. A survey conducted by HelpAge India in 2013 revealed that 63 per cent of the senior citizens were residing with their families, 27 per cent with spouse while seven per cent were staying alone.
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