Call to form national level body for elderly people
Speakers at a meeting yesterday called for establishing a national level organisation for the welfare of elderly people.
Although the elderly men and women are contributing to society and their families, they are being deprived of their rights, they added.
Realising the Right of the Older People (RROP), a project of Resource Integration Center (RIC), in association with the Help Age International and Irish Aid organised the meeting at the Dhaka Reporters Unity office.
A draft policy for setting up a national level organisation for the elderly people was presented at the meeting.
Under the RIC project that started working at Sriramkathi in Pirojpur in 2001, about 400 organisations for elderly people were developed in six districts so far, RIC Executive Director Abul Hasib Khan said.
Both the elderly men and women are contributing to society, but their contribution are being ignored, he said.
He also mentioned five major challenges to set up a national level organisation for elderly people. The challenges are making them aware of a common goal, bringing them under a single umbrella, forming leadership at union, district and division levels and raising funds, he said.
Tofazzal Hossain, an executive committee member of RIC, said that not only the project members, the elderly people at the grassroots level should carry on the work towards setting up a national level organisation for them.
Chairman of the Forum for the Rights of Elderly KM Rashid said that it is a matter of regret that the government considers linking the issue of the elderly people with that of physically challenged persons.
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