Chandigarh
Punjab Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Mrs. Aruna Chaudhary, on Sunday, said that fulfilling its commitment for the well being of all sections of the society, the government has decided to provide grant-in-aid to the eligible NGOs for establishing/running Senior Citizen Homes in 16 districts of the state.
Mrs. Chaudhary said that the state government has made arrangements to establish and run senior citizen homes in all the districts under ‘The Punjab Management of Senior Citizen Homes for Elderly Persons Scheme 2019’. The department was successfully running Senior Citizens Home in district Hoshiarpur, while government senior citizen homes are under construction in district Mansa and Barnala. “In the remaining 19 districts, it has also been decided to provide grant-in-aid for establishing/running senior citizen homes in collaboration with local NGOs to provide shelter, food, clothing, health facilities and other essential necessities to the aged people”, she added.
The Cabinet Minister further said that a grant-in-aid worth Rs.3.84 crore was released to such NGOs in district Amritsar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur for the senior citizen homes during the previous financial year 2020-21. Now in this financial year, applications have been invited from NGOs for grant-in-aid for opening/running old age homes in remaining 16 districts i.e. Bathinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Moga, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Patiala, Rup Nagar, SAS Nagar, Sangrur and Tarn Taran.
Referring to the conditions for providing grants to such NGOs, the Social Security Minister said that the institution must have its own building as well as it should be registered under ‘The Punjab Management of Senior Citizen Homes for Elderly Persons Scheme 2019’. She said that registered NGOs, Voluntary Organizations/Trusts/Red Cross Societies which are running Senior Citizen Homes or organizations which can establish such old age homes for at least 25 senior citizens or 50, 100, 150 senior citizens in 12 months, subordinate and autonomous institutions of the state government/panchayati raj/local government department, government approved educational institutions/charitable hospitals/nursing homes/registered youth institutions will be eligible to apply for the grant.
Mrs. Chaudhary said that the office bearers of interested NGO can contact the concerned District Social Security Officer for more information. The details of the registration process under the Scheme, terms and forms can also be downloaded from https://tinyurl.com/fcaeb22w. To avail the grant for the year 2021-22, all the applications completed in all aspects should be sent to the office of the concerned District Social Security Officer by August 13, 2021 as no application would be entertained thereafter.
