DHARAMSHALA, INDIA (Tibet.Net), June 27, 2005:
The Department of Home of the Central Tibetan Administration will soon commence construction of a new elderly people's home at Kalimpong in West Bengal.
There are about 14,000 elderly people of above 60 years old in the exile Tibetan community.
Ottawa Friends of Tibet, Canada, is raising funds for this Rs. 4.6 million project.
The Home Department currently runs 14 elderly people's homes across India and Nepal, housing more than 800 people of above 60 years old.
The new home at Kalimpong will accommodate about 50 elderly people from the neighbouring places including Darjeeling, Sonada, Gangtok, Ravangla, Siliguri and Bhutan.
According to Ngawang Dhondup, head of the welfare section of the Home Department, the new home for the elderly should be functional by the end of 2006.
There are also some seven other elderly people's homes in India and Nepal, housing about 350 people, managed by various institutions or organisations.
The Home Department views the elderly people, estimated to be around 14,000, as one of the most vulnerable groups in the exile Tibetan society "mainly due to nuclearization of family structure, shortage of housing, poverty and lack of any old-age pension scheme."
Besides the elderly people's homes, the Home Department also runs a sponsorship programme which provides monthly subsistence support to about 1,500 elderly people.
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