TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: : New Delhi: There is good news for the 8,500 odd senior citizens living alone in the city. Police commissioner Y S Dadwal has announced a comprehensive security audit of their homes. Speaking at a media briefing on Friday, Dadwal said an inspector in each of the 130 police stations in the city will be put in-charge of this unique drive.’ He willbe the nodal officer who will prepare the audit report and inform the district DCPs,’’ hesaid.

‘‘The drive will not be limited to a single visit or a single piece of advice. We will carry outa full security audit of their homes. We will offer specific inputs on how the securitysituation can be enhanced. For example, we will ask the elderly to install certain basicsecurity equipment like door chains, magic eye, iron grills and safety locks,’’ said Dadwal.

He added that his men would act as f a c i l i t at o r s and help the senior citizens get thework done. ‘‘We understand that it might be difficult for the elderly to go to contractors andarrange for these equipment. Moreover, there is always the question of security as manylabourers have to allowed entry into the house for these jobs. Hence, we have decided toeven talk to contractors and arrange for cheap labour. The contractor will install theequi ment in a time-bound manner,’’ said the commissioner.The olice claimed that the process would be a voluntary exercise. The expenses, though,will have to be borne by the senior citizens.‘‘The success of the drive will also depend onhow we tackle the daily problems faced by our elders. All police s t at i o n s havebeen instructed to ensure that the senior citizens are not harassed by property dealers orland sharks,’’ said Dadwal.

The commissioner said the drive will also focus on servant verification. ‘‘The verificationdrive bore fruit and over 64% of servants in the city were verified. This year, another 10%have been verified. We wish to get at least 80% of domestic helps verified by the end of thisdrive. If we fall short, we might even promulgate an order under section 144 putting theonus on the helps to get themselves verified,’’ the commissioner said.

Meanwhile, the commissioner denied that the economic offences wing (EOW) wasdragging its feet in arresting various fraudsters involved in multiple scams in the city. ‘‘Weare treating every case seriously. We are investigating whether the accused were ingenuine financial trouble or were just duping people. Only after we have assured ourselvesof their role are we arresting them,’’ said Dadwal.

Dadwal also claimed that the safe pedestrian week launched by the traffic police has metwith success. He added that the anti-obscene call cell had received 7911 calls so far ofwhhiacdh b6e,5e0n0disposed of. toireporter@t imesgroup.c om