The city police on Friday launched a helpline for the elderly who have enrolled in Pronam, a joint initiative of the police and an NGO to help the aged who live by themselves in the city.
Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal inaugurated the Pronam call centre and announced the helpline number — 9477955555. Pronam now has around 19,000 members.
The project was launched in 2009. People who are 65 or older and residents of the Kolkata police area can be members of Pronam if they live by themselves.
“If the husband is 65 and the wife is younger, only the husband can enrol in the project. But when it comes to any help or service, both will get it,” said an officer of Kolkata police.
The helpline will be operational 24x7.
Goyal also launched an app named Pronam that can be downloaded from Playstore on android phones.
“The app has been designed to serve as a one-stop solution to problems faced by elderly Kolkatans,” said an assistant commissioner in Kolkata police.
In a city where a large number of elderly people are forced to live alone as their children migrate to other places for jobs, many are dependent on the police for their personal needs — be it a medical emergency or getting a microwave oven repaired.
Till now each police station had an officer dedicated for the Pronam members in its area. But with the increase in the number of members, it was getting difficult for the officers to keep tabs on the members.
“So we introduced the helpline. Apart from receiving calls, officers manning this helpline will make calls to the Pronam members to interact with them," the officer said.
