For Kerala's elderly, insecurity and neglect dominate concerns at Kochi hearing
A sense of insecurity and the absence of a reliable support system emerged as the predominant concerns of elderly citizens during a hearing held by the Kerala State Elderly Commission (KSEC) at the district collectorate in Kochi on Tuesday.
The commission received seven complaints during the sitting, five from individuals and two from organisations working for the welfare of senior citizens. The issues raised included alleged neglect of elderly parents by adult children, financial cheating, and harassment from neighbours.
KSEC Chairperson K. Somaprasad said that a recurring complaint involves parents being neglected by their children after transferring property to their names. “Today also, there were a couple of such complaints. There were also complaints about troubles from neighbours, including an allegation that improper maintenance of pets in the neighbourhood was causing health issues to the complainant,” he said.
Several complainants approached the commission after failing to get a response from the authorities they had initially contacted. One retired government employee accused a non-banking financial company based in Aluva of cheating him out of ₹85 lakh by promising higher returns on investment. The complainant alleged that the local police were not keen to investigate the matter.
In another complaint, an elderly person alleged that a lender had not returned a 1.25-acre property that was mortgaged as security for a private loan, despite the loan being fully repaid.
Mr. Somaprasad said the commission would seek reports from the departments and agencies concerned on each complaint and summon the parties involved for a hearing. However, in one case scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, neither of the opposing parties appeared before the panel. In another case, only the complainant was present.
The commission has been holding such sittings across districts and plans to continue in the coming days. Over the past nine months, it has received around 300 complaints from across Kerala, of which nearly 50 have been resolved.
