Kolkata: At a time when the safety and security of senior citizens has been one of the prime focus areas of Kolkata Police and all the officers in-charge (OCs) of the police stations in the city are undertaking steps for the same, Kolkata Leather Complex (KLC) police station has gone a step further by creating a WhatsApp group of all the senior citizens under its jurisdictional areas. There are around 40 people living in the five-odd housing complexes located under KLC police station, whose family members are settled outside Bengal or India. "We are constantly engaged in exchanging messages in the WhatsApp group with the elderly, right from the morning. Simple messages like good morning, whether they have had their lunch, how they are doing, good night, etc. are being exchanged to keep in constant touch with them and to give them the confidence that we are always there to serve them," said a senior official of KLC. A major portion of the stretch under KLC that spans over 54 square km, is village area. Four Gram Panchayats come under the jurisdiction of KLC. "We have information that most of the aged people in the villages live in company of their family. But still, we have sought a list from the panchayat pradhans on any elderly couple or person who lives alone. We want to ensure that everybody comes under the WhatsApp group," said Swarup Kanti Pahari, OC of KLC police station. The interaction is also being supplemented with visits at the housesof the elderly from time to time. KLC police station has also decided to celebrate the festival of Raksha Bandhan by tying rakhis at the hands of each of the elderly citizens living in the housing complexes. The KLC police station, which was earlier under Bengal Police, was brought under Kolkata Police on March 10, 2017 and Pahari was given the charge of OC. Prodded by Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma, who has instructed all divisional deputy commissioners to make a database of elderly persons in the city, the OCs of all police stations have started gathering details of senior citizens across the city and are installing CCTV cameras at their houses with monitoring facilities from the police station itself. The city has witnessed multiple incidents of elderly citizens being killed and robbed in recent times, the latest being the murder of an elderly couple at Bansdroni under Netaji Nagar police station area. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also expressed her concern over such incidents and had instructed Sharma to take all possible measures for enhancing the security of the elderly citizens in the city.

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