Senior Citizens, Divyangs Must Get Priority Services in Every Government Office/ Sanjeev Arora Hoshiarpur/Daljeet Ajnoha/May 19

Senior Citizens, Divyangs Must Get Priority Services in Every Government Office/ Sanjeev Arora
Hoshiarpur/Daljeet Ajnoha/May 19
A special meeting organized by the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Hoshiarpur, and chaired by its president and noted social worker Sanjeev Arora, called for immediate measures to ensure primary facilities and priority services for senior citizens and persons with disabilities (divyangs) in government offices. The meeting discussed the difficulties faced by these groups when accessing public services.
Expressing concern, Arora said that respecting and supporting senior citizens and divyangs is not only a social responsibility but a moral duty. “Those who have spent their lives serving society and the nation should not be subjected to hardship when they visit government offices for essential tasks,” he said. He pointed out that elderly and disabled visitors often face long queues, repeated referrals between counters, demands for multiple documents, and prolonged waits to meet officials. “If these conditions trouble an average person, we can only imagine the difficulties faced by seniors and divyangs,” he added.
Arora noted that many senior citizens suffer from mobility problems, knee or back pain, or respiratory ailments, while persons with disabilities often find it physically challenging to reach offices, climb stairs, stand in lines, or move around. Despite this, most offices lack special facilities for them. He urged the government to establish dedicated priority counters and separate queues for senior citizens and divyangs at all government offices, tehsils, municipal bodies, electricity and water departments, banks, pension offices and other public institutions to spare them long waits and expedite their work. He also called for basic amenities such as appropriate seating, shade, fans, and drinking water. In high-traffic offices, wheelchairs and attendant staff should be provided. Arora emphasized that waiting two hours or more to meet an officer is unacceptable and urged directives to ensure priority hearing of matters concerning seniors and divyangs.
Vijay Arora and Prin. Ashwani Kumar Datta urged sensitization of office staff and attendants, saying employees must recognize helping a person who has struggled to reach an office is their duty. They suggested guiding such visitors directly to the correct counter and promptly completing their work instead of making them run around.
Prin. D.K. Sharma and Madan Lal Mahajan recommended a formal grievance mechanism through which senior citizens and divyangs can file complaints if they are mistreated, delayed unnecessarily, or harassed in any office, so that strict action may be taken against the responsible official or staff. This, they said, would promote accountability and improve the system.
Secretary Rajinder Modgil and Tarsem Modgil said that a society’s culture and values are reflected in how it treats its elders and vulnerable people. “A nation that wishes to progress must give respect, security and facilities to its senior citizens and persons with disabilities,” they said, adding that priority services for these groups should be guaranteed in every government office so they do not face humiliation or hardship while seeking their rights. They appealed to the government and administration to take immediate concrete steps to provide relief to these respected sections of society.
Also present at the meeting were Vijay Arora, Rajinder Modgil, Madan Lal Mahajan, Ashwani Kumar Datta, Prin. D.K. Sharma, N.K. Gupta, Tarsem Modgil, Varinderjeet Singh, Vinod Pasaan, Ravinder Bhatia and others.