Senior
citizens to demand revision in civic budget
Irked with the paltry provision of 0.008% towards their
welfare schemes in the annual civic budget, senior citizens and representatives
of several NGOs plan to meet Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief
Sitaram Kunte next week.
Of the total proposed budget outlay of Rs 27,492 crore, a
provision o only Rs. 2.2 crore has been made for senior citizens. "Senior
citizens comprise a significant proportion of our population. I propose to make
a budgetary provision of Rs2.20 crore for recreation centres and other
initiatives exclusively targeted towards the benefit of our senior
citizens," Kunte had said in his speech.
"Senior citizens comprise 10% of the overall
population of the city. How can Rs. 2.20 crore be sufficient to meet their
demands for the year," asked Sailesh Mishra, founder president, NGO Silver
Innings Foundation "The city is not senior citizen-friendly. The existing
infrastructure such as skywalks, foot overbridges and markets do not cater to
the elderly. So, we need a budgetary allocation of at least Rs500 crore (2%)
for them," said Mishra.
Prakash Borgaonkar, director, HelpAge India, said that
the civic body should pass the senior citizens' policy at the earliest.
"The policy will help the civic body extend several facilities towards
senior citizens. It should be cleared at the earliest. We also need additional
provisions for the aged in all civic-run hospitals."
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