‘Only 1 old age home operational in Haryana’: rights body pulls up officials
The HHRC conducted a review in compliance with its earlier order, dated January 31 this year, and discovered only one old age home was operational in Haryana’s Rewari district — years after its inauguration on January 6, 2023.
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“The Commission has sought a detailed ATR (action taken report) from the officials or departments concerned by July 29 this year,” Dr Puneet Arora, Protocol-cum-Information and Public Relations officer of HHRC, said. (Source: File/Representational)The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has reprimanded government officials over the sluggish pace of old age home construction after learning “only one such residential facility was operational” in the state. It is mandatory to have an old age home in every district of the state, as per Section 19 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.
The HHRC conducted a review in compliance with its earlier order, dated January 31 this year, and discovered only one old age home was operational in Haryana’s Rewari district — years after its inauguration on January 6, 2023.
Through virtual inspection, the HHRC found that only 12 senior citizens — nine men and three women — were residing in the facility, which has a capacity to accommodate a total of 170. It also noted several hygiene issues such as unclean washrooms and poor kitchen conditions in the old age home. With insufficient staff — only one safai sewak — it is difficult to maintain cleanliness in the facility, it observed.
According to the status report received on April 1 this year, plots for old age homes in Jhajjar, Palwal, Panipat, Rohtak, and Sirsa have “not yet been identified”. Due to lack of approval, the construction work is pending in Faridabad, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kind, Kurukshetra, Sonipat, and Yamunanagar. Earmarking plots, the districts of Gurugram, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Charkhi Dadri, and Nuh have initiated building the old age homes. The work is underway in Karnal, under the Smart City project, and Panchkula (supervision of Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board), it read.
A Commission bench — comprising chairperson Justice Lalit Batra, Kuldip Jain (judicial member), and Deep Bhatia (member) — has invoked Section 19 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. “Ensuring the dignity and security of the elderly is a constitutional and moral obligation of the state,” it asserted.
In an order, the HHRC has now issued directions to senior Haryana government officials including the additional chief secretary (Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, chief administrator (Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran, Panchkula), and directors of the Town and Country Planning Department as well as the Development and Panchayats Department to “monitor and expedite the construction of old age homes”.
“The Commission has sought a detailed ATR (action taken report) from the officials or departments concerned by July 29 this year,” Dr Puneet Arora, Protocol-cum-Information and Public Relations officer of HHRC, said.
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