In order to resolve the grievances pertaining to senior citizens across the state, Punjab Social Security and Women & Child Development Minister Mrs. Razia Sultana, on Thursday launched a dedicated helpline named ‘Elder Line-14567’ for senior citizens at MGSIPA, Chandigarh. Every senior citizen of Punjab can call on 14567 for any grievance.Addressing the function, the Cabinet Minister said that the helpline will act as a unified platform to reach out to every senior citizen of Punjab by providing necessary information and intervention through highly committed partners including government agencies, NGOs, HelpAge and volunteers.Besides providing support and guidance, it will also make aware about government schemes and programmes for their welfare and facilitate queries. For this purpose, the government has appointed field officers in all 23 districts of the state to help elders at ground level, she added.
Referring to the various welfare schemes of the state government for elderly people, Mrs. Sultana said that the Chief Minister S. Charanjit Singh Channi led state government was taking all necessary initiatives to create the right policy framework for the care of the elderly.The state government has doubled the amount of old age pension from Rs.750 to Rs.1500 per month. At present, 18.15 lakh persons are availing benefits of the Old Age Pension Scheme. The pension benefits have been disbursed to the beneficiaries till September 2021. A budget provision of Rs.4000 crore has been made for various pension and financial assistant schemes in the financial year 2021-22. She reiterated that the state government was making all possible efforts to ensure timely payment of pension to the beneficiaries every month.Principal Secretary Social Security and Women & Child Development Ms Raji P. Shrivastava, Director Social Security and Women & Child Development Mr. B. Srinivasan, Addition Director Lilly Chaudhary, Joint Director Mr. Charanjit Singh Mann and other officials also attended the function.