Visit elders daily or face action,cops told

The move is aimed at fixing responsibility for lapses,as visits to houses of seniors have been grossly neglected by police.

“Police are supposed to visit senior citizens in their jurisdictions. However,the visits are rarely made. To revive the initiative,police stations have been directed to carry out daily visits to homes of those registered with us,” a Mumbai Police officer said.

“If a policeman assigned the job fails to show up on a given day,he will be held accountable. If no satisfactory explanation is provided,disciplinary action will be taken against the policeman by the local ACP,” said the officer.

After a spate of crimes against senior citizens,the state government decided to restart registration of the elderly in Mumbai on Elderline 1090,a police initiative launched in 2006 that gradually lost steam.

Home Minister R R Patil instructed all police stations in the city on Monday to revive the helpline and begin registration of senior citizens again.

Till 2011,more than 39,000 senior citizens had registered with the helpline.

However,there have hardly been eight to nine registrations in 2012 as against an average of 10,000 a year. This is largely due to police apathy.

More than four lakh senior citizens live alone in the city. NGO workers said in the past decade,188 had been killed.

In 2011 alone,more than 45 were robbed and murdered,mostly by domestic help or service providers.