PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Citizens Welfare Council has virtually become dysfunctional for not holding its meetings as per law due to which problems of senior citizens have increased across the province.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Citizens Act 2014 confers wide-ranging powers on the senior citizens council for ensuring provision of many privileges to the elderly citizens reflected in the law.

Owing to the virtually dysfunctional council, most of the privileges mentioned in the law couldn’t be provided to millions of senior citizens, sources in the social welfare department told Dawn.

They said that the council should hold a quarterly meeting to review progress on implementation of the law. However, they said, the council had held only four meetings in five years since promulgation of the law. The council’s last meeting was held on May 2, 2019, they said.

Section 6 (1) of the law states: “The meetings of the Council shall be held quarterly, and shall be presided over by the chairperson or, in his absence, by the vice-chairperson and in the absence of both of them by a member nominated by the chairperson for the purpose.”

Privileges reflected in 2014 law yet to be given to the elderly

The minister for social welfare department is chairperson of the council.

The law has given wide-ranging powers and functions to the senior citizens welfare council so as to formulate policy proposals on aging in the light of national commitments on the welfare of senior citizens and submit them to the government for approval from time to time; publish reports for guidance and welfare of senior citizens; grant of senior citizens awards in the fields of their expertise; etc.

The council also has the powers to establish senior citizens homes to accommodate the homeless and deserted senior citizens and set up an organisation of senior citizen corps for utilisation of their potential for service activities and national development.

Since enactment of the law five years ago, the social welfare department mostly remained with the chief minister and under the law he (CM) was the chairperson of the senior citizens welfare council, a senior official in the social welfare department told Dawn.

“The chief minister used to have a busy schedule and did not have time to chair the meeting of the senior citizens council,” he said, adding because of this the legal requirement of holding quarterly meetings couldn’t be fulfilled.

The official said that as per procedure for convening the meeting the directorate of social welfare department had to move the summary to the chief minister on a file for approval. However, he claimed that the summary often remained in the Chief Minister Secretariat for three to four months with no reply.

President of a senior citizens organisation, Mian Shakir Hussain, said that neither the previous nor the incumbent provincial government was taking interest in resolving the problems of senior citizens.

Mr Hussain, who is a member of the senior citizens welfare council, told Dawn that chief ministers remained the chairperson of the council who never bothered to address their problems.

“I have sent several letters to the chief minister, requesting him to meet a delegation of the senior citizens to discuss their problems, but in vain,” he said.

The provincial governments of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan have been giving monthly honoraria of Rs4,000 to the senior citizens, but senior citizens of KP were deprived of such help.

Another member of the council Zahoor Khan told this correspondent that the provincial government couldn’t even establish a community centre and provide them with the senior citizen cards so far.

Under the law, the people having the senior citizen card are entitled to certain privileges such as free of charge entry to public museums, libraries, parks and recreation facilities; separate counters in hospitals; concession in medical and medicine charges; separate medical wards; financial support and membership of organisation of senior citizens corps.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2020