New Delhi: Representatives from Odisha who are part of the National Council for Senior Citizens Wednesday took part in a national consultative meeting of the council here under the chairmanship of the Union Minister for Social Justice.
Two representatives from Odisha belonging to the social service sector and one senior citizen representative from the state who are members of the council from Odisha took part in the meet and aired their views. Union Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot and BJP leader LK Advani chaired the meet of the council here.
During the discussions, Prafulla Kumar Hota, senior citizen representative from Odisha, told the council that under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana special measures were required to be taken up to ensure that the distribution of assistive aids for the elderly reaches all parts of Odisha including Sambalpur as many regions are still uncovered.
Minerva Sahu, another council member from Odisha, said that some proposals from NGOs for assisting the elderly in the state and ratified by the state were still pending with the Union government which demanded grants from the ministry. She said that such proposals should be considered soon.
Gehlot, while responding to Hota’s suggestions, said his ministry has reached some districts to provide assistive devices to senior citizens and in coming days planned to cover all the districts. To the issues raised by Sahu, the minister asked her to write to the ministry on the issue.
The representatives from Odisha also raised the issue of exempting pensioners from Income Tax and increasing bank interest rates for the fixed deposits maintained by senior citizens. This was the third meeting of the council in New Delhi.
The council advises Central and state governments on the entire gamut of issues regarding welfare of senior citizens. The council meets at least twice a year. Its first meeting was held August 30, 2016 and the second meeting was held June 19, 2017.
