INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, January 4
Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens has developed the Procedure on Operation and Management of Senior
Citizens Service and Meeting Centre-2019, for assisting the inter-generational transfer of knowledge, skills and experience from senior
citizens.
As per the procedure, the centres will be operated at all local levels in partnership with the federal, provincial and local
levels and the private sector
MoWCSC will provide grants to the local levels to operate the centres
&The centres shall be operated as per the policies, programmes and standards set by the local levels concerned,& it says.
It requires a
local level to select the place to build the centre by meeting the prescribed criteria
&The location shall have access to vehicles, ambulances and fire brigade services
The centre must be facilitated with electricity supply, water and telephone
Moreover, hospital or health facility and holy sites such as temples and rivers should be in the periphery of five kilometres as far as
possible,& the procedure reads.
The centres shall have literary and religious books and good arrangement for performing devotional songs and
playing musical instruments
Further, the centres should also be equipped with furniture, carpet, television, heater, fan and indoor games.
Similarly, these centres
should provide mid-day meal, safe drinking water, emergency health care services and medicines.
The local levels shall spend the grants only
for the purpose for which it is provided
According to the procedure, the grants shall be disbursed to the local levels through banking channel according to the approved annual
&The administrative expenses shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total grants,& it says
The grant amount will be anywhere between Rs 100,000 and Rs 300,000 each fiscal.
The bank account held with a commercial bank licensed from
Nepal Rastra Bank will be operated by counter signatures of chief administrative officer and accounts chief of the local level
The local levels should submit audit reports of the centres to the MoWCSC within 15 days of the completion of the fiscal
The local levels shall be responsible for settling arrears indicated by the audit
The MoWCSC said it had already appropriated Rs 20 million for the centres.
Despite various plans and programmes announced by the government
for the welfare of elderly people, living conditions in elderly homes remain poor
The government has already implemented the Senior Citizen Identity Card Directive to provide senior citizens with protection and social
security under the constitution
As per the directive, the government will issue ID card to senior citizens through the local levels.
Any person having completed 60 years of
age may submit an application to the concerned local level for ID card
Senior citizens comprise 2.2 million of the total population of the country
Senior citizens are entitled to 50 per cent discount in public transport and government hospitals on the basis of ID card.
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develops procedure to run centres for elderly appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
