Bhubaneswar: The Senior Citizens Security Cells (SCSCs) opened at all the police stations in the Capital city have almost stopped functioning since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Odisha Police had decided to open SCSCs at the police stations in urban areas across the state in 2008 after several ghastly crimes were reported against elderly persons in the urban areas.
As per Crime Branch’s circular (No. 01/08), the cells will be operated with a sub-inspector rank cop as the nodal officer and two/three constables at the police stations as his/her assistants. The senior citizens, especially who were staying alone, have been instructed to register with the SCSCs at their local police stations. They get a senior citizen card along with a booklet of “Do’s and Don’ts” clearly advising the card holders about the steps to be taken to remain safe, thereby preventing criminal activities against them.
The nodal officers along with other cops are supposed to visit any of the registered elderly person’s residence every week and advise him/her on security related issues. The nodal officers have also been asked to create senior citizen committees in various localities of the urban area. The senior citizens can seek the help of cops of the cell in case of emergency.
According to sources, more than 15,000 senior citizens in Capital city have been registered themselves with the SCSCs at local police stations. Around 2,000 senior citizens have been registered with the SCSC at Chandrasekharpur PS while around 1,500 were registered at Nayapalli police station. Similarly, as many as 2,500 elderly persons have registered themselves with Khandagiri police. As many as 950 senior citizens at Lingaraj, 1,300 at Kharavel Nagar and 950 at Airfield PS have received cards from the police.
However, the SCSCs have almost stopped functioning since the outbreak of pandemic barring some random distribution of medicines and other essentials among them during nationwide lockdown last year. The senior citizen meetings and medical camps used to be held at police stations at regular intervals have also stopped.
On the other hand, lack of fund and manpower crunch have also turned out to be the biggest impediments to proper functioning of SCSCs here. Many ASIs have been appointed as nodal officers of the cells due to the absence of adequate number of SIs.
Similarly, the officers at police stations are reluctant to organise any meetings, health camps or any programme in this regard for dearth of sufficient funds.