A year and a half ago, Hariprasad, 46, had just taken up duty at the Thiruvananthapuram Town Police Checkpoint when he felt suffocated. It was a heart attack. The policeman died, leaving behind his wife Suvarna and two children, a student and a schoolgirl. He also had a housing loan from the Kerala Police Housing Cooperative Society (KPHCS).

He ran into Suvarna, who had no job, to pay several lakhs of rupees for the loan. She made numerous requests, but the company’s articles of association did not allow the loan to be waived or reduced, she was told. Suvarna had lost all hope until in February 2020 a new team of police took over the company. She got a call on a day when she least expected it, telling her the loan had been written off and that she would get her documents back.

“I had not submitted a new candidacy for the new team of KPHCS police officers. But they took it themselves and called me to inform me that the loan had been canceled and that I would recover the property documents given as collateral. I am very grateful to them, ”Suvarna told TNM.

KPHCS started operating in 1982 with the idea of ​​providing home loans to law enforcement officials who had difficulty obtaining bank loans. “The police found it so difficult to build their own house. For some reason, the banks were reluctant to give loans to the police at the time. This is how the company was born. The loans would be repaid one year before the officer’s retirement. But the problem was that if a policeman died on duty, the pending loan would go to the immediate family, who might have trouble paying it back, ”says Jyothish RK, executive director of KPHCS.

Biju CR, the vice president of the company, took a few months to study the various benefits of insurance plans in order to come up with a plan to cancel these pending loans. It was not long after taking over the new team of officials last February that they came across the story of Hariprasad, who died in service, and the demands made by Suvarna. They further examined such pending loans and found 36 cases where the police officer who took out the loan died while on duty. Many of them were above Rs 20 lakh.

Last Saturday, the KPHCS, in the presence of Minister Kadakampally Surendran, canceled two pending loans – Rs 21.12 lakh served by Jayakumar who was in the city traffic police when he died, and Rs 11.33 lakh taken by Sajikumar, who died while serving with the Thiruvananthapuram Rural Police.

Speaking to TNM, Sajitha, Jayakumar’s wife, said: “He was 41 years old and died of an illness. I don’t have a job and didn’t know what to do when I heard about the pending loan. Our house was built in Thiruvallam, but the loan was obtained from Ernakulam branch (Thiruvananthapuram branch started later). At first, there was no response to my request to consider our situation and forfeit the loan. Then I approached officials from the Kerala Police Association. They told me later that the loan was canceled and I can’t say how relieved I was to hear this. I am very grateful to them. The couple have two children, aged eight and two.

Sajikumar died of jaundice in December 2019. His brother Bijukumar, who is also in the police service, said the company’s new team were very helpful even when Sajikumar was hospitalized. “In my 28 years of service, I have not encountered such a helpful team. With the Kerala Police Welfare and Amenity Fund, they have helped pay hospital bills. Jyothish Sir and others from the Police Association have helped a lot. And now they have also canceled the loans, ”explains Bijukumar.

Two loan and insurance plans

“After reviewing the 36 cases, we decided that the company should take out the pending loans for police personnel who died on duty. We would repay the remaining loans of all such cases before taking over. And for those who started taking out loans after our takeover, we have designed two programs for this purpose, ”explains Biju.

One is the Death Benefit Scheme and the other is called Care plus. Both plans are voluntary.

Those who join the death benefit scheme must deposit an amount of Rs 500 for a loan of Rs 1 lakh. So if they take out a loan of Rs 10 lakh, they have to deposit Rs 5,000. Once they retire and the loan is repaid, that amount will be returned to them. However, if they die before that, their outstanding loans will be written off. But they must be members of the regime to be eligible.

The other plan – Care plus – works more or less like regular medical insurance, but without the necessary criteria to benefit from it. “No matter what illnesses you might already have, you would still be eligible for any types of medical treatment that you or your family (spouse and children) might need,” says Biju.

The Care plus scheme, which went into effect in November 2020, requires a police officer to pay the total insurance fee, or Rs 3,600 for each remaining year of service. So if it’s 10 years, they have to pay Rs 36,000. If it’s been over 27 years, however, they only have to pay Rs 1 lakh. This will make them eligible for processing fees of up to Rs 3 lakh each year.

“We have already spent Rs 1,32,000,000 for the medical costs of 177 police officers under the program. And that’s only 2.5 months away, ”says Biju.

With approximately 2,000 new recruits joining the force each year, the funds will only grow and this will help them meet the expenses.