The Ganjam District Biju Patnaik Senior Citizen Forum discussed various issues concerning senior citizens and the society at its monthly meeting held under the chairmanship of its president Rash Bihari Dash here on Wednesday.

Senior member and journalist Rabi Rath highlighted about various problems and proposed solutions. General secretary Simanchal Prasad Bisoyi read out the October month’s report.

Expressing unhappiness that forum has not been allotted a convention centre or a patch of land for meeting purposes despite repeated memorandums submitted to the district Collector and the Chief Minister, Dash urged all senior citizens to meet the Collector and place the demands again. It was decided that a representative team would meet the SP and urge him to issue police identity cards to all senior citizens.

The forum demanded that the Chief Minister announce Tirthayatra dates (under the Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana) and order for distribution of Biju Swasthya Yojana health cards to provide health assistance up to Rs 3 lakh  soon. The forum also reiterated its demand for increasing monthly pension from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000.

All forum members, whose were born in November, were greeted on the occasion.  The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by vice-president Prabhakar Sahu.

Among others, Prof Jayant Mohapatra, Ramanatha Panda, Prasant Kumar Das, Niranjan Mohanty, Prabhat Kumar Purohit, Girish Patro, Rabi Moharana, Prasant Kumar Mohapatro, Manmathas Padhi, Dandapani Panigrahi and Ramesh Chandra Pradhan were present.

At the outset, the members mourned the death of 10 persons in the recent bus accident occurred at the Mahanadi near Cuttack and observed a two-minute silence for the departed souls.