Over 600 senior citizens and nearly a hundred children, some as young as five months, housed at the Home of Hope, New Ark Mission of India, are facing a severe water crisis.
The one borewell on the premises has failed. With no other option available, the home — founded by T. Raja, popularly known as Auto Raja — is relying on tankers for a steady supply of water. But it has escalated costs. It costs ₹40,000 a month, and with other monthly expenses amounting to ₹9 lakh, the home can ill afford to spend on water, Mr. Raja said. He’s turned to a crowdfunding website for help with the borewell.
“Most of the residents of the home are those who have been abandoned by their families or picked up from the filthiest of conditions. The home is mostly run on donations,” he said, adding that he prefers donations in kind. “We need something that can be used immediately. While we welcome monetary donations, we prefer donations in kind,” he added. The Home of Hope is now counting on these donations to not just sink another borewell, but also for the establishment of a rainwater harvesting system and construction of a building. This will help increase the housing capacity of the home. “The police and personnel of 108 ambulance service also bring in people to our home almost every day. The numbers are only increasing. We hope to provide care to around 1,000 destitute persons and orphans in the near future,” Mr. Raja said.
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The construction of the building was halted owing to paucity of funds. “The ground floor and first floor has come up. We will restart construction once we have ample funds,” he added.
Apart from funds, what the home needs the most is some assistance from the government. “Most of the inmates are terminally ill. The government can at least depute a doctor to come to the home daily for two hours. Currently, we have a psychiatrist who comes once a week. We have tied up with a few hospitals, and we take the inmates there in cases of emergency,” he added.