Struggling at the fag end of their life!

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 16

At the dusk of their lives, senior citizens are a harried lot.

Reason: Some are fighting to get the monthly pension of mere Rs500, others seem to be begging for their own safety concerns. These senior citizens are a disappointed lot as they feel that the respective governments are not worried about the serious issues concerning them.

KBS Sodhi, a retired professor from a reputed college here, said for the safety of senior citizens, the police had provided a number 1090, but despite repeated attempts, his concern has not been resolved by the police so far. Sodhi said his life has been made hell by his own loved ones and he “locks” himself from inside the room, fearing threat.

“I called up the helpline number provided by the police. A person came to me, but then he said that someone else will look into the matter as he (the cop) had a date in the court. But after that, no one came and I am living like an animal in the cage at my own house,” rued Sodhi.

On the other hand, Yogesh Rai, a retired employee rued that he has not got pension since January 2017. “It has been about a year now, I have not got my old-age pension. Forget about increasing the pension to Rs2,500, we are not even getting Rs500 a month for the last 11 months. We make several rounds to the offices, but no one listens to our grievances and the attendants simply say they will pay only when the amount is deposited in the treasury. We have no idea as to how long we will have to wait for getting our meagre pension,” an elderly man said.

Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Agrawal, however, said the government had started the verification process of pensioners and about a lakh of them were found to be ineligible in the state. “Now, the verification process is over and we expect that the government will soon release the pension of the eligible/ genuine persons,” the DC said.