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THE RECENT case of a 63-year-old’s body being found five months after she died in her flat has put the spotlight back on the vulnerability of senior citizens, particularly those living alone. While the Mumbai Police in 2012 revitalised Elderline — helpline 1090 dedicated to senior citizens — and also asked elderly people to register with local police stations, neither initiative seems to have had a sustained impact.
Elderline earlier operated from a separate enclosure in the main control room and had two personnel per shift. A former staff at the helpline said, “It was a non-emergency helpline in the sense that on several occasions, senior citizens would call just to talk to us. These calls could sometimes go up to an hour. On other occasions they would ask us to help them with medicines, get things from a local grocery store or hail a cab for them.”
Around three months ago, Elderline was merged with the new main control room. Now, senior citizens dialling 1090 are redirected to the main control room. “While most things remain the same, the one change is that it now functions as an emergency helpline number. We cannot talk to them for long periods. However, we still cater to their needs and direct the calls to local police stations,” said an official from the control room.
Also, earlier, there were normally four people — in shifts of two — taking calls, and senior citizens had got to know the operators. “They would develop a certain level of comfort with a particular operator. They would note their shift timings and call accordingly. There were times when they came to the control room to meet us. With the new control room, there are 60 people taking calls and so personal equations with operators are not possible,” an official said.
However, he added, “The advantage is that earlier, several senior citizens would find lines busy as there were just two operators. Now there is no such problem.” Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti said the lines had been merged in a way as to have no negative impact. “While the line has been merged and 1090 operates from the main control room, there are still people allotted for attending to senior citizens. There are no major changes.”
An official from the control room said that when Elderline was functioning separately, they received around 650-700 calls per month. Ever since the merger, 1090 received 100 calls in June, 407 calls in July and 619 calls in August. However, not all these are from senior citizens, as people sometimes erroneously dial this number for general complaints. When it comes to registration of senior citizens at the local police station, it depends upon the “interest shown by the senior inspector of the police station”, several officers told The Indian Express. An officer said, “A beat marshal who is given a specific area under the police jurisdiction is expected to keep track of the number of senior citizens living alone and meet them occasionally. How often they do it really depends on the interest shown by the senior officers.”
Senior inspector of Govandi police station Shashikant Mane said, “I take the initiative very seriously and have specifically assigned the job of overseeing this to the police inspector (public relations) to ensure that the beat marshals are meeting senior citizens regularly.” Residents of Gopi Krishna Apartment in Mulund East, where a senior citizen was robbed in 2015 by a man who posed as an employee with a service provider, are still sceptical of anyone who comes to their door.
Few residents of the society have registered with the local Navghar police, which is responsible for their area. PV Sundaram (61) said, “We are aware of the initiative and will register with the police soon.” However, many are not aware that senior citizens can register their names with police officers. M Shaligram (60) said, “No, I have not registered with the police, but I have the emergency helpline for senior citizens.”
