KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has urged the National Savings Centre (NSC) to assist senior citizens in opening link accounts and getting biometric impressions, a statement said.

The Unisame invited the attention of the NSC director general to the hardships faced by senior citizens in the collection of monthly profits on Behbood and other schemes under the new system.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said that the NSC needs to find a solution for those who are not in a position to visit the branches and those who visit the branches but due to old age their biometric impressions are not clear.

The Unisame has received complaints from various senior citizens and their authorised persons who are declined the payment of profits at the counter due to the new rules and their requirements of opening a link account where the amount would be credited, he informed.

The Unisame council suggested that in case the holders of certificates provide their own bank accounts details, the NSC needs to facilitate them by crediting their accounts and their own bank could manage the biometric verification or get permission from the National Database and Registration Authority.

It will save the senior citizens from the trouble of visiting the centres. The banks’ officers are getting biometric verification by visiting the immobilised old age persons at their homes and facilitating them.

It is important that the NSC gives immediate consideration to this matter and save the senior citizens from blockage of funds which is causing them great hardship, the council added.