The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Care home residents celebrate Onam

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Thursday, Sep 11, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Care home residents celebrate Onam

Sangeetha Unnithan

Hope to move into a better shelter and environment soon

– Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Homesick: Residents of the Care Home at Chakka waiting for ‘Onasadya’ on Wednesday.

Thiruvananthapuram: The elderly members of the Care Home, Chakka, may have an extended Onam celebration this year. According to Social Welfare Secretary Usha Titus, various organisations have already lined up ‘Onasadya’ for 25 days for the Care Home this month.

And on Wednesday, Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy herself joined them for the feast. “I have wanted to come here for a long time. But I had to postpone the trip due to various reasons on each occasion. However, today I am extremely happy to join you for the Onasadya,” she said.

Besides the Minister and the Secretary, Social Welfare Department Director K.K. Mani, and Chakka ward councillor S. Ratheendran were present at the function.

The Onasadya on Wednesday was sponsored by Kshema Foundation.

The Care Home residents could be celebrating the last Onam at the 50-year-old building housing the institution. The premises will soon be taken over for the development of the airport. While many of the 111 residents are not even aware of the fact that they might soon be moved out of their existing shelter, the rest have no clue where they will be shifted to, once they leave the place.

Minister’s promise

Although the State government had announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art care home at Pulayanarkotta, there are no plans so far on any temporary arrangement in case the Care Home is taken over for the development of the airport immediately. The Minister, however, assured the residents that there would not be any tight- fistedness on the part of the government in providing for the elderly.

“The new care home will be the only one of its kind in the country. The proximity of the site to the Air Force Base will translate into better security and proximity to medical help,” she said.

The Care Home is to be relocated to a 3.85 acre plot at Pulayanarkotta. A Social Welfare Department official said the design and construction of the Rs.5-crore project had been entrusted to the Habitat Technology Group. The new complex, with a capacity to accommodate 150 individuals, will have bath-attached rooms instead of dormitories.

“The present care home was established in 1958 by the Maharaja of Travancore to rehabilitate those who were released from prisons. It was in 1975 that the After Care Home was converted to a care home for the elderly citizens by the Social Welfare Department,” said Chakka Care Home superintendent S. Rajendran.

Initiatives

The Care Home also initiated various projects, including poultry farming and goat rearing, to keep its residents engaged in its heydays.

Over the years, all these initiatives ground to a halt as the number of occupants swelling, the care home building became crammed.

With the Minister’s promise, the residents of the Care Home are now hoping to move into a better shelter and environment. But that dream could take some time to realise.

For the moment, however, they will have to be content with the Onasadya and Onakkodi gifted to them by individuals from different walks of society.

Still, no matter how many new clothes they get and how many VIPs come down to meet them, some of these elderly people simply cannot hold back the memories and their tears as they dredge up memories of the Onam they celebrated back home with their families.

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