After Kanpur, Gorakhpur gets day care centre for elderly, 15 more in pipeline

Also, they said that Agra and Jhansi centres are almost ready, and work is going on in 12 other cities — Ayodhya, Varanasi, Bareilly, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Firozabad, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Prayagraj, and Mathura.

“Apart from the typical stay facility for senior citizens, which is already provided by the Social Welfare Department, the idea of a senior citizen daycare centre is for the urban areas, where they can spend the entire day. There would be yoga classes, a gym, and a reading area. In some cities, there would also be a café, which would be open for the general public as well, so that these elderly can also mingle with others and would also give a revenue model to these centers,” said Principal Secretary (Urban Development) Amrit Abhijat.

Officials said that the centres would provide health checkups, physiotherapy sessions, and doctors’ consultations.

“The government will provide the infrastructure, and then it will be given to an expert agency to run these centres. Some modifications are being done as per the requirement, but the aim is to provide a place for the senior citizens to interact and engage in activities during the daytime, along with providing them other assistance,” said a senior officer.

Meanwhile, while inaugurating the second such facility in the state in Gorakhpur along with the urban facility centre, both worth Rs 14.22 crore, Chief Minister Adityanath said that his government is working keeping in mind that in a democracy, the public is considered “Janta Janardan” and not ordinary citizens.

He said that the country’s prosperity must be the “collective goal of all the citizens”.

He said that with growing urbanisation, senior citizens in urban areas from all walks of life felt detached from society, leading to further deterioration of physical and mental health, and that feeling of isolation and loneliness was becoming a major cause of mental health-related issues among them.