The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Pensioners cope with broken promises

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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Pensioners cope with broken promises

Swathi Shivanand

LIC’s housing wing leaves property owners high and dry

LICHFL claims that its project has been successful
Residents spend thousands to make the bare structures liveable

BANGALORE: For four years now, senior citizens G.S. Appadu and J.S. Iyer have borne the brunt of a failed promise, having trusted a reputed company which offered to make their dreams of leading independent lives after retirement come true.

The Care Homes at Madanayakanahalli, off Tumkur Road on the outskirts of the city was supposed to have “lovely independent cottages,” “verdant gardens,” “freedom of a walk amid the woods,” as claimed in the promotional brochures brought out by the Housing Finance company of the Life Insurance Corporation (LICHFL).

Instead, the few residents who have managed to stay on have had to spend thousands of rupees to make the bare structures liveable, right from installing fans to polishing floors.

No development

Long walks inside campus are ruled out lest they hurt themselves on the unmade walkways. Gardens and woods are mere overgrown weeds that cleaners burn when they become too wild.

To cater to their every need, the brochures promised a community kitchen, post office, ATM, departmental store, library, community centre, home theatre, meditation centre and chauffer-driven cars, all barely functional.

Allotment

Only 13 of the 98 houses are occupied.

“This is because the people to whom the houses are allotted are working and not likely to come and reside here. If the houses were supposed to be for senior citizens, why did they allot them to people who are still in service?” asks Mr. Appadu, formerly an Indian Foreign Service officer.

Executive Director A.P. Singh, LICHFL, based in Mumbai, had this to say when The Hindu posed the same question.

“We cannot force people to come and stay here. How is that possible in a democratic setup? The houses have been allotted to people above 50 years. They still have 10 years of service left so they would not want to come and live here.”

No people, no facilities

Mr. Singh said facilities were not provided because there were not enough people to use these services.

“The departmental store was shut down because he could not recover his expenses. Nobody used the community kitchen either so we closed that down too. As for doctors, we have a tie-up with a nearby hospital who answer to emergencies,” said Mr. Singh

The private hospital refused to attend to Mr. Appadu when he suffered a mild heart attack in the middle of the night, said his wife, Saraswathi.

Consequently, she had to look after him and administer her own medications, Ms Saraswathi said.

LICHFL however continues to claim that its project has been successful. In its annual report for 2007, it says the Care Homes has “all that would make the lives of seniors comfortable and satisfying,” something that has Mr. Iyer, who was the head of department of the Indian Civil Accounts Services, boiling with rage. “It is a breach of trust to the senior citizens by one of the top-most public sector companies,” Mr. Iyer said.

“If the customers are not satisfied, they can always exit,” the company’s Executive Director said.

“I cannot move out. I have spent Rs. 15 lakh. I do not want to dump myself on my children,” said Mr. Appadu. Ms. Saraswathi said, “We pay Rs. 1,500 as maintenance charges. For what, I do not know. We pay our own water and electricity bills. We pay for the domestic help also.”

Mr. Iyer said: “I made a mistake investing in this. I do not want to make another mistake leaving it and forcing myself on my children.”

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