Take care of housing society elders, West Bengal CM tells youngsters

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday stressed on the need for community support in these times of pandemic and asked younger residents of housing complexes to take initiatives to look after the needs of the elderly, especially those living alone in the complex.
“The young members of the apartment associations should keep a regular check on elderly residents in the building and help them in getting daily essentials and medical supplies.In case of any trouble, they should immediately get in touch with the cops for help,” the CM said at Nabanna during a media briefing on Thursday.

While chief secretary Rajeeva Sinha suggested a dedicated helpline number for elderly residents, Banerjee added that Kolkata Municipal Corporation should form a liaison with the building residents’ bodies and help the elderly in whichever form necessary.
“I live in a standalone building with my bed-ridden husband and 90-year-old mother. My only son lives abroad. I am dependent on our driver who fetches all daily essentials for us, but living alone with two sick senior citizens leaves me extremely worried,” said Geeta Chakraborty, who lives in Jadavpur.
A Tollygunge high-rise resident said that although the apartment association has arranged for home delivery of all essentials, including meat and groceries, she is hesitant to seek help from others. There is no initiative from the association to personally reach out to all elderly residents for all their necessities.
Representatives of major high-rises and apartment complexes said many of them have formed dedicated teams comprising young and middle-aged residents who regularly check on elderly residents of the complex and help them get their essentials.
“From the start of the lockdown, our priority has been elderly residents. We have passed on a list of mobile numbers of all the functionaries of the association and we also check on them every alternate day,” said Indrani Chowdhury, secretary of board of societies at Saptaparni apartments.
Debjani Mookherjee of Urbana apartments said, “The residents’ association has been providing regular support in terms of delivering daily essentials to elderly residents’ doorsteps, deputing housekeeping personnel and proving medical assistance with help from resident doctors.”
Meanwhile, a Kolkata Police officer said that, prodded by commissioner Anuj Sharma last Tuesday, all police stations have been asked to update their list of elderly residents based on the “Pranam” register. They have also been asked to include those who are still not part of the programme.