Old age home inmates orphaned with demise of Good Samaritan

Piduguralla: Mariamma, a Good Samaritan , who gave shelter to 60 senior citizens in the old-age home that she had set up for them, recently passed away due to cardiac arrest putting a big question mark on the future of the inmates.

She had set up the home for the aged at Tummalacheruvu village in Piduguralla mandal of Guntur district. She named it as Sonia Gandhi Harijana, Girijana Old-Age Home. The home was set up on one-acre plot. She used to run the home with funds from the government.

About 20 years ago, she had set up the home with just five inmates. Their number increased to 60. When the home’s bills were not cleared for years altogether she used to go to Delhi and fight with authorities to get her bills cleared. When she was alive she had complained to The Hans India about the bureaucratic delays in getting bills cleared and poured out her agony at not being able to feed the inmates.

When The Hans India contacted the inmates after her death, they felt orphaned. Even when deserted by their children, they did not feel so, thanks to the care extended to them by Mariamma. With her death, the senior citizens felt really desolate. They recollected that she had gone to the extent of borrowing money to feed them when the government failed to clear the bills.

When The Hans India questioned them about their future in the absence of Mariamma, they said that her children also take good care of them. Expressing their inability to go anywhere and do anything, they said that they have decided to die there whether they are fed or not. The inmates said that now there was none to extend monetary help to the children of Mariamma to run the home till the bills are cleared. They appealed to the government to come to their rescue by clearing the bills. Otherwise, they said that there was no alternative except death.

K Mahesh Kumar