The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : For charities offering shelter, an uncharitably hard time

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

For charities offering shelter, an uncharitably hard time

Kannal Achuthan

Organisers struggle to ensure children get nutritious food

Photo: M. Vedhan

Children at Siragu Montessori School, near Avadi.

Charitable organisations offering shelter have been hard hit by the rise in prices, as they now have to spend more on food, shelter and medical treatment. The monthly bills of Siragu Montessori School, a facility for children of labourers, have increased by Rs. 10,000 since last year.

“We have a menu for every day of the week and we want to stick to it so that children get nutritious food. So we make sure that we don’t scrimp on food expenses,” said R. N. Muthuram, founder trustee. The school has 90 children in the hostel and about 200 day scholars.

“Provisions including rice, dal and oil and cooking fuel costs Rs. 60,000 per month. Last year, we could manage with Rs. 50,000,” Mr. Muthuram said. The increase in land prices and rental value has also affected them. Lotus Blind Welfare Trust of India’s hostel for visually-challenged girls has had to frequently shift because building owners demanded higher rent.

“The hostel was first in Saidapet and then moved to Pallavaram because we could not pay the hiked rent. Then we shifted to the premises of a school in Nungambakkam but we were asked to vacate that too,” said A. Padmaraj, one of the founders of the trust.

Fortunately, Surana and Surana Public Charitable Trust came forward to build a hostel on its land to accommodate the girls.

Since last year, the cost of food, medicines and stationery per student per month has increased from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 1,800, Mr. Padmaraj said.

S. Iyyappan, managing trustee of Sri Arunodayam — a home for mentally-challenged and destitute children, says the rise in prices has deeper implications. The home saw an increase in the number of admissions in the last year and a half. “I wondered about the increase. One thing that struck me was that the rising costs had caused more and more poor families to put the children in our care. The father may be a daily wage earner and the mother may work as a domestic maid and they find it difficult to spend time and money on these children,” he said. He also said that the spending power of urban families may have increased but not that of rural households.

Mr. Iyyappan said the monthly budget for the trust had increased from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 2.4 lakh per month since last year. “We have to pay more to retain staff and to provide physiotherapy and medical care for our children,” he said.

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