MAPUSA
Minister for Social Welfare Subhash Phal Dessai on Monday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that the demand for the Ummid day care centres had gone down and just 10 of such centres were running as of today.
Phal Dessai also informed that there were 49 such centers at various places in the State but during the Covid pandemic most of these centres for senior citizens were shut down.
“Very few senior citizens show interest in the Ummid day care centres. The government is aware that senior citizens should be treated with respect and are ready to provide recreational facilities for their welfare at the centre,” Phal Dessai said.
The Minister for Social Welfare was responding to queries raised by Velim MLA, Cruz Silva during the Question Hour.
According to Velim MLA, the senior citizens are not interested to visit these day care centres as enough recreational facilities were not available for them at the centre.
Intervening in the discussion, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed that Ummid centres were run by recognised NGOs while the government was providing grants to provide some basic facilities at the centre.
Fatorda MLA, Vijai Sardesai said the government had last year made a budgetary provision of Rs 1 crore to run these Ummid centres which was reduced to Rs 55 lakh this year.
“The reduction in the financial provision for the centres shows that the government is neglecting its senior citizens,” Sardesai opined.
The Chief Minister informed that the amount was reduced because the government had not received any applications for the centres.
Bicholim MLA, Chandrakant Shetye said that the government should conduct a survey to find out the drawbacks of the scheme and why it was getting a poor response.
Ummid is a government sponsored scheme for day care centres to senior citizens which is implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The aim of the scheme was to take care of elders by bringing them together to prevent isolation and ensuring them good physical and mental health.
