Plight of the elderly

I would like to bring to your attention the plight of the elderly pensioners of Colombo 7 zone in the Colombo Municipal Council. They have to get the signature of their Grama Sevaka (GS) of their zone to draw their pension from the Colombo South Secretariat located in Colombo 5.The GS of this particular zone is a very busy person. He has a fully-fledged office with all facilities in the zone that he is designated to work. Besides this, he also has many sub-stations in the same zone. When the clients want to see him they are not sure where the GS is.

All the elderly people are not mobile and some of them have to use wheel chairs, crutches as well as walking stick to ambulate. Moving from one office to another takes a long time and could be hazardous for some clients. Many of them are unable to use public transport and they have no vehicles of their own.they are at the mercy of the three wheeler drivers to move from point one to the next.

They have to look for their GS all over their postal zone. If they are lucky, the GS will be in the main office. If not the senior citizens have to resort to a wild goose chase to obtain this certification.the GS should consider the plight of these senior citizens and try to meet them at one location, most preferably in the main office.

F.MADIWELA