Plea to Keralam Chief Minister to avoid shifting KSSM staff to new department for elderly

The Senior Citizens Friends’ Welfare Association has written to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan seeking rollback of the decision to redeploy staff of the Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM) for appointing employees in the newly formed Department of Senior Citizens.

In a petition to the Chief Minister, the association said if the decision was not withdrawn, all welfare services provided by the KSSM would come to a halt.

The KSSM, through a limited number of employees, was responsible for providing welfare assistance to the tune of ₹250 crore a year through local bodies to nearly 5.5 lakh beneficiaries, including the elderly, differently abled, children with serious illnesses, destitute women, and Endosulfan survivors. It was also implementing schemes to bring the most marginalised into the mainstream of society. Vayomithram, Aswasakiranam, Snehapoorvam were some of these schemes.

The government should strengthen the KSSM by implementing schemes in areas where welfare support was hitherto unavailable.

The redeployment of KSSM staff should be avoided and those from the Social Justice department or other departments be posted to the Department of Senior Citizens. If that does not prove adequate, new appointments can also be made, the council said in its representation.