Find home for 65-yr-old woman who wandered into Sakinaka police station seeking shelter
Some 250 police officials from Sakinaka have assembled a fund of Rs 30,000 to help a senior citizen, who was deprived of a means of livelihood as well as the roof over her head to call home after the dispensary she worked at was demolished in an anti-encroachment drive.
The police said the woman, Lata Pardeshi, 65, arrived at the Sakinaka police station on May 15.
"I was at station house duty when she walked in. She did not appear like a beggar but was asking for shelter. She told me she used to be a cleaner at a dispensary at Mohali Pipeline area in Sakinaka and had stayed at the same place for 20 years," said Police Sub-Inspector Nilesh Bhalerao from Sakinaka police station.
She told the cops that a civic demolition drive reduced the dispensary to rubble and she was rendered homeless and jobless. "She told me her husband passed away decades ago and her son died ten years ago in Pune, in a tanker explosion. Her daughter-in-law refused to take her in," Bhalerao said.
The officials said they wanted to do arrange a place for her to stay as she had just been living on the streets. "We have a woman's room on the third floor but Pardeshi is too old to climb the stairs. So we decided to arrange for her stay to stay at a nearby temple, till she gets a permanent accommodation," said PSI Bhalerao.
Meanwhile, the other cops called up social activists in the area to find her a place to stay, but to no avail.
"We made calls to several old-age homes, politicians, social workers and NGOs and requested them to give shelter to Paredshi," Inspector Sunil Mane said. "But none of them agreed to keep her. Some said they didn't have a place for her."
Finally, a Karjat-based home agreed to keep her, and on Thursday, she was escorted to the place. But not before the cops gave her a little gift.
"The station has a staff of around 250 personnel and all of us contributed in our own capacity to build a Rs 30,000 fund for her. I will get a bank account opened for Pardeshi so whoever wants to help can deposit money for her," said Bhalerao. "After all, she is like my mother. Who would want to see their mother struggling to find a home?"
SENIOR'S PLIGHT
- Police officials said Lata Pardeshi came to the Sakinaka police station on May 15.
- She told the cops that a civic demolition drive had reduced the dispensary she used to work and stay at to rubble.
- Her husband and son passed away years ago, and her daughter-in-law refused to take her in.
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