Villagers of remote Sanaanko under the Ali police station set an example for others by worshipping the elderly people when the elderly are today an object of scorn and neglect.
Under the fold of Sanaanko Yuba Parisad, the villagers on Wednesday worshipped the elderly persons of their village and also donated them clothes.
According to Bhikari Barik, an inhabitant of Sanaanko village, the elderly are neglected and forgotten by society because the people don’t want to be reminded of their own mortality. The elderly face harassment mostly due to financial reasons.
The plight of elderly people is acute in several villages of coastal Kendrapada district, where migration of people in search of employment has become a permanent feature. Of the 14.4 lakh population in the district, nearly 10 per cent of them have shifted outside the State and abroad for better livelihood. When the youths are migrating, their parents are left alone at home without care.
There are several villages in Kendrapada district where very few families have members of the age group between 25 to 45 years to look after their old parents. They faced abuse and ill-treatment by the family members in the absence of their off springs when the elderly people at the twilight of their life mostly want love, care and respect, said Golekha Behera, a member of Sanaanko Yuba Parisad.
“We have decided to create an awareness for treating the elderly persons with utmost love, care and respect so that their remaining life is spent smoothly,” said Gagan Das, a member of the Parisad.
Akhaya Samal, a villager, stated, “On Wednesday morning, we invited all the elderly persons of our village to congregate at a place in the village and asked all the women, girls, and youths to come to the same spot. About 70 to 80 elderly persons, including women, attended. later, all the juniors applied sandalwood paste to the elderly persons and worshipped them by offering flowers. All the juniors, including the women and girls, showed respect to them by touching the feet. The Sanaanko Yuba Parisad provided shawls and sarees to the elderly persons.”
The Parisad has done a praiseworthy job by organising a rare function to pay respect to the elderly persons, said district Collector Muralidhar Mallik.