The lack of an effective mechanism to ensure that senior citizens belonging to underprivileged sections benefited from various welfare schemes meant for them have pushed many to seek alms to make both ends meet.
This has come to the fore yet again with the Corporation authorities picking up and shifting a few aged women who were found begging in various parts of the city.
Among them, 74-year-old Gomathi of Punchakkari had been warned against begging at least two times in the past, but to no avail. She was picked up from near Thiruvallam Sree Parasurama Temple.
An official said that the elderly woman engaged in begging with the approval of her 80-year-old husband, Sukumaran. “With Sukumaran largely neglecting Gomathi, who is his second wife, she used to seek alms from the devotees. The situation existed despite the couple receiving monthly pensions,” the official said.
Pankajakshi, aged 90, was picked up from near an apartment constructed by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation at Kalladimukham as part of the Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) slum improvement project.
She has been residing with her 63-year-old daughter Ambujakshi at a flat allotted to them.
While Ambujakshi, a daily-wage worker, claimed that she was unaware that her mother begged for alms, official sources said that Pankajakshi was being pushed to beggary, which they considered to be a ‘lucrative source of income.’
Legal experts pointed out that the inadequacies that existed in welfare schemes and poverty alleviation projects have led to the situation in both cases. They also recommended the intervention of civic bodies in channelising various schemes, including those undertaken by voluntary organisations.
The two women, who were lodged at the Corporation’s rehabilitation home Sakshatkaram at Kalladimukham, were allowed to go with their respective families on the basis of a legal agreement that involved personal surety. Efforts were on to locate the next-of-kin of a third woman, who had been picked up from Pariyaram in Nedumangad.
Meanwhile, a special squad of the Corporation caught around 10 women who were found begging in various parts of the city on Thursday. While four women were shifted to Sakshatkaram, the others were permitted to return to their families.
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