On February 3, 2019, the dream of over 400 members of Reserve Bank Retired Employees Association, Kochi was fulfilled with the inauguration of their retirement home complex by Shri. N S Vishwanathan, Deputy Governor of RBI at a memorable function held at the premises. This was a fitting finale to three years of planning and hard work. A small group headed by Shri K P Johnkutty, worked hard to complete the residential complex, the foundation stone for which was laid on February 13, 2016 by Shri R Gandhi, the then Deputy Governor of RBI.

Before delving into the details of the project, a look at the spectrum of activities of the retired employees attached to RBI, Kochi would be apt. The generosity and love for the society exhibited by our members in the last few years have made not only the retired employees’ community but also RBI, the organisation that nurtured us to be good citizens, proud. As a result retired employees elsewhere were drawn into our Association in great numbers. Although, Kochi houses one of the smaller offices of RBI, the Association has more than 400 members on its rolls. Apart from arranging General Meetings, Family Get-togethers, visits to the homes of older retirees (mostly octogenarians) etc., the Association also involved itself in various activities like encouraging members to donate their organs after death for the benefit of others and to participate in social intervention programmes. With a view to extending its reach to deprived sections of the society, directly and through NGOs, a social intervention fund called Prathyasa Lifeline Fund (PLF) was launched in 2015. Over the last five years, our members directly or through PLF disbursed over one crore to the marginalized, the needy and the poor. The members also responded financially during the devastating floods that ravaged the State and the nationwide Pandemic by liberally donating to the Chief Ministers’ Disaster Relief Fund and the PM fund. Besides, 350 moulded chairs were also distributed to the families residing in the vicinity of our retirement home and whose household articles and furniture were swept away by flood waters.

The social initiatives of our Association have drawn strength from the effective communication platform available to us through our quarterly journal ‘Prathyasa’, which has grown from a two page manuscript in 2007 to a full-fledged printed journal widely read by not only our members but also the retired and serving employees of RBI all over the country.

The inauguration of the retirement home complex coincided with the Annual Family Get-together of retirees. The retirement Home project which was undertaken under the name Prathyasa Retirement Homes have since been rechristened as River Bank Residency. During the occasion of the get together Shri N S Vishwanathan, Deputy Governor, RBI, accompanied by his wife Smt. Geetha Vishwanathan, and other dignitaries and people’s representatives of the area were accorded a warm reception at the entrance of the building by the members of the Association and their families.

The retirement home complex, constructed at a cost of Rs.20 cr. is an aesthetically designed apartment complex, with sixty-eight apartments of similar design and amenities, each owned by a member and has a bedroom, hall, pantry, bathroom, wash area and balcony, all in a carpet area of 550 square feet. The whole complex is senior citizen friendly with sufficient open space and walking area. The common facilities includes a common kitchen, common dining room, recreation room, meditation room, nursing station, dormitories, library, health-centre, clinic, yoga centre, Ayurveda massaging centre and solar power plant. The large atrium in the centre adds opulence to the structure. There is sufficient area for vegetable cultivation and green lawns. The Deputy Governor and other guests expressed their appreciation of this unique initiative and were impressed by the ambience of the surroundings and the choice of the locale.

This opportunity was also used to inaugurate the new, furnished Office Room of the RBREA, Kochi at the ground floor of the complex by Shri L R Parab, General Secretary of All India Reserve Bank Retired Employees’ Association (AIRBREA) in the presence of the DG and other guests. Thus the Kochi Association became the first RBI Retired Employees’ Association to have its own office premises.

To etch this memorable day in green, the DG and members of the core committee that had supervised the implementation of the project planted saplings in the yard in front of the building.

The members were elated by the appreciation expressed by the DG over the fact that the retired employees of RBI had found ways and means to return to the society a part of the privileges they were enjoying after serving our great institution. He lauded the implementation of the project which, as pointed out by him,highlighted the fact that employees of RBI were capable of executing such high quality projects even after retirement, thanks to the training received during their service. DG commended the Association for the social intervention activities being undertaken through the Prathyasa Lifeline Fund and promised to contribute his mite to the PLF, in future.

It is no exaggeration to conclude that what has been achieved by Reserve Bank Retired Employees’ Association, Kochi is a feather in the cap of the Association and all its members.