PANJIM: The police brass will now make time to call up senior citizens to know their well-being, a task not mandated by law but being taken up on humanitarian grounds. This unique move is also an attempt to gather feedback on whether patrolling police visit them and offer help as and when required on ASAP basis.
Nearly four years after Goa Police launched a toll free senior citizens helpline 1090 to address issues raised by elders, the department has proposed this new idea. At the same time, the department is also in the process of digitising data collected by the police teams in their respective beats.
“The staff at police stations is instructed to invite citizens during events held by them. The beat officers are also asked to visit houses of senior citizens, spend time with them and make them feel special,” IGP Jaspal Singh told Herald.
Senior officers at the police headquarters, district heads and the police in charge would take the initiative of telephoning senior citizens and spending a few minutes chatting with them.
Another senior officer disclosed that experts in the police department have almost completed the task of digitising the data of senior citizens, details that consist of their names, phone numbers, address, email IDs, etc. The digitisation process will most likely be completed within a week. In the future, the police force will also host senior citizens/elders day.
The personnel were recently issued SOP to provide immediate relief and to ensure safety and security of senior citizens. The objective, the officer said, is to also encourage them to live a secure and healthy life without any fear by providing medical assistance through calls to 108 Ambulance or 1090, to make them feel comfortable by periodic visits by police officers of various ranks and enquire about their grievance, if any, and to promptly attend to their calls/complaints and provide necessary help.
On Christmas Eve in 2014, the department had launched the helpline for senior citizens particularly those living alone. Interestingly, the helpline has barely received any calls of abuse or harassment to them with a source, attending calls in the control room, stating that calls are largely related to medical help. “On an average 2-3 calls are received daily from people seeking medical help. At times, there are no calls. Barely a few calls are to complain that their children are not taking care of them. We attend to all such calls,” said the source.
Among several 24X7 help lines launched for vulnerable sections like women, child, etc, calls on senior citizens toll free are the least. Crime committed on senior citizens is also negligible. There was one notable crime on an elderly couple in South in the recent past.
On the other hand, the women’s helpline receives on an average 25-30 calls per day, of which some are actionable and some not. Interestingly, among the total calls, domestic violence and eve-teasing cases are few.
“On an average, we get 25-30 calls on women’s helpline number and 2-3 calls on 1090,” Singh revealed claiming that action taken report is examined by the police higher ups every week.
