CHENNAI: Senior citizens longing for companionship in their old age and those forced to live in poorly equipped and ill ventilated old age homes now have help on hand as the Tamil Nadu government plans to set up an ‘eco-friendly’ village for them on the outskirts of the city.

The proposed village, to come up on 10 acres of land at Thundalakazhani, is estimated to cost around Rs 4.7 crore. It will be modelled along the lines of the ‘Tamaraikulam,’ a village for senior citizens set up by Helpage India at Cuddalore, official sources said.

About 160 senior citizens will be housed in duplex residential blocks in this village, four to each block. The village will have all amenities like banks, ATMs, salons, shops, recreation club, medicare unit and a yoga and meditation centre. An open space is also proposed, where they can move about freely.

Those who are physically fit would be engaged on a voluntary basis in productive activities like vegetable farming, organic agriculture and cattle rearing. This will not only help keep them engaged, but also generate income, the sources said.

The plan to set up this village comes after the government notified the ‘Maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizens act 2007′, seeking to award imprisonment or penalty or both to those who neglect aged parents.

This is the first time that the state government will set up and manage an old age home.