By IANS,
Bhopal : The Madhya Pradesh government will penalise offspring who abandon their parents and guardians forcing them to live in old age homes.
“A meeting of the state level committee constituted to amend the state’s old age policy held Tuesday resolved to identify senior citizens evicted by their children, and provide them old age pension and penalise the children who discard their parents after getting police cases registered against them,” said an officer of the Women and Child Development (WCD) department.
The meeting, presided over by WCD Minister Kusum Mehdele, also discussed effects of the policy for senior citizens, its constitutional provisions, main areas of mediation and its implementation.
It was also decided to identify aged widows having no income or property and solely dependent on others.
The government proposes drafting a separate policy for their welfare.
Mehdele directed constitution of a sub-committee to prepare the final draft within two months after amending the Senior Citizens Act and the state’s proposed old age policy.
The minister also said the government was soon going to hold a Vriddhajan Panchayat (panchayat of senior citizens).