417 elderly people collect forms to join ‘Pronam’

Rattled by the incident in which a 65-year-old woman was killed at her residence in Taltala on February 5, several elderly people in the city have lined up outside the Kolkata Police’s stall at book fair showing their willingness to be part of the project ‘Pronam’, which was launched to help the elderly people. 

According to an officer of the city police’s community policing section, till evening, around 417 elderly people have collected forms to enroll themselves in the project. At the same time, around 975 senior residents have enquired about how the city police extend their help to an aged person. 

All of the 417 people, who collected forms, stay all alone as their children either stay abroad or in some other parts of the country for their jobs. 

Usually, the forms to get enrolled to the project are distributed from all police stations. But the city police take initiative to set up a separate desk at book fair every year with an aim to create awareness about it and more people can collect the forms easily. 

Those collected the forms during the book fair, first knew how they will be helped if they become part of the project. 

“I realised that they felt assured when they came to know that there are 24-hour helpline numbers for the members of Pronam and they may dial at anytime in case they need support for security and health issues. There are designated officers at every police station to help the members of Pronam,” the officer said, adding that they have been asked to visit their respective nearest police stations where concerned police personnel will help them out to fill up the forms and they will become a member after a basic enquiry, which is again essential to know the condition in which an elderly person stays. 

Subsequently, they will get the identity cards of Pronam.

At present, there are 13,000 members in the project. The police also made an arrangement at the stall to make people watch a video on how they help the members. 

In video, some members had also shared their experiences of being helped by the police when they were in problem. 

A police officer said apart from the residents of Bengal, many people from abroad, those visited the book fair, have also enquired and later praised the project of the city police after knowing about it in details.