City cries for counselling centre for senior citizens

For more than three decades of his life, PS Pandey, 65, held various positions of power and people looked up to him. Vimal Chander Joshi reports.

For more than three decades of his life, PS Pandey, 65, held various positions of power and people looked up to him. He had retired as chief engineer from a public sector undertaking (PSU).

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However, after his son shifted to Mumbai, he had to deal with something he never anticipated in a “happening” city like Gurgaon. He got very lonely.

“There is no counselling centre in the whole of Gurgaon. Where can a senior citizen go, especially when your children are not around? In case of any untoward incident, there is no way that someone would ever get to know about it,” said Pandey, who shifted from Rajasthan five years ago.

Nowadays, he has no choice but to spend time at the colony park meeting other senior citizens with similar stories to tell.

Lt Colonel Raghbir Singh, another retired officer, and president of Devender Vihar RWA, where many retired officers stay, witnesses the plight of retired people almost everyday.

“There was a man in our society whose two sons had left him and he was contemplating suicide. We tried hard to take him out of depression. At personal level, I do a little counselling but I seriously feel there should be some professional help at hand because the city has thousands of retired people who stay alone," said Singh.