NALGONDA: The construction of a permanent government old age home for elderly couples in Nalgonda town has remained stalled despite the allocation of land and funds, leaving destitute elderly couples with no option but to live separately.
The delay has also been compounded by the Nalgonda Red Cross Society’s failure to arrange a temporary rented facility, as mandated under an agreement with the welfare department.
At present, the district has two government-run old age homes — one at Devarakonda and another at Nakrekal — with a capacity of 25 inmates each. However, both homes are exclusively for women, forcing elderly men, including husbands of inmates, to seek shelter in a government facility in Hyderabad.
As many as 14 elderly couples have been forced to live apart over the past four years. While four couples continue to live apart, several others have chosen private facilities by pooling their old-age pensions and donations.
To address this issue, the government sanctioned Rs 50 lakh in February 2024 for constructing an old age home in Nalgonda where elderly couples could stay together.
On March 1, 2024, Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy laid the foundation stone for the project on one acre in Survey No 1271 on Panagal Road. However, the project was shelved after engineering experts declared the soil unsuitable for construction. In May 2026, the district administration allotted 15 guntas of land near Jubilee Hills in Nalgonda town for the project, but construction is yet to begin.
A senior official said the estimated cost of the building is Rs 1.3 crore, while only Rs 50 lakh has been sanctioned. “We can commence work after the government releases the remaining funds,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the Nalgonda Red Cross Society, which signed an MoU with the district welfare department on March 7, 2024, to manage the proposed home, has not started operating the facility from a rented building, as required under the agreement. Red Cross Society chairman Goli Amarender Reddy acknowledged the MoU but said the organisation had been unable to find a suitable building.
