Salt Lake could get a new old age home by January next year. Saptadweepa, an NGO that runs the Bairag old age home at IB 9, is building a second one in HB Block and they are targeting a winter opening of the same.

“Even though the centre is not ready, we held the house-warming ritual on May 10 as it was the birth anniversary of our late founder- president Pushpa Dutt, wife of former chief secretary Tarun Dutt,” says Kuntala Patnaik, president of Saptadweepa. “Seventy per cent construction is complete and we hope to open it by December or January.”

Dutt and 21 other women had started this NGO in 1988 to pursue social causes but one of their main endeavours was to start an old age home. “With the breakdown of the joint family there was and is a need for senior citizens to live independently and with dignity and comfort. So we organised fundraisers and opened the first phase of the IB Block home in 1993,” says Patnaik.

When the women learnt plots were available in Salt Lake they decided to build the home here. The foundation stone of the IB Block home was laid in 1991 by the then chief minister Jyoti Basu and the inauguration was done by the then governor Syed Nurul Hasan in 1993.

Members of Saptadweepa at the house-warming ritual of Bairag’s HB Block wing. (Saradindu Chaudhury) (top) Members outside the IB Block address. (Mayukh Sengupta)

An ever-increasing demand for rooms is leading Saptadweepa to build a second home. “We only keep a waiting list of 10 to 12 people and there are many more that we have to refuse. Most boarders are single individuals who come within a month or two of their spouses passing away. Many come as they feel uncomfortable living with their daughters’ families. Others feel they will not be able to adjust with the lifestyles of their children’s families,” says Patnaik. Bairag gets boarders from all over the city but mostly it is parents whose children live in Salt Lake. That way they know help is minutes away in case of an emergency.

The HB 177 plot had been acquired five years ago but work started in May 2013. The IB Block home is a four-storeyed building on a six-cottah plot that cost Rs 25 lakh while the new building will be two storeys high on a two cottah plot at an estimate cost of Rs 15 lakh. “We are facing some financial difficulties but will try to raise money and complete the project on schedule,” says Patnaik, adding that Rs 33,000 has been donated by doctors who have regular patients from Bairag.

The IB Block building has 25 rooms for boarders and the new one will have seven. “Unlike in the IB Block building, rooms in the new home will be fitted with ACs. Many boarders are asking for ACs and computer points now-a-days. While rates for the new building are yet to be finalised they will certainly be more than what they are at IB Block .

Single rooms are available at IB Block for Rs 7,500 a month and double rooms for Rs 10,500, besides a donation of Rs 50,000, a refundable six months security deposit and medical deposit in case the boarder does not have insurance. “Food and maintenance costs are included in the rent so the boarders are completely carefree,” explains Patnaik.

Ramdhan Majumdar, a 76-year-old boarder at the IB Block centre, says there is a huge demand for such homes among his peers. “My friends often ask me about the availability of rooms at our centre and I tell them to get their names written in the waiting list. I’ve been living here for 10 years and find it very convenient.”