Kalpetta: After a 21-day stay at the relief camp at Meppadi Joseph's Girls Higher Secondary School, Mundakkai native Mani K and his family have shifted to the government quarters in Munderi. Though they lost everything in the calamity, they are now looking to rebuild their lives from the rented house.
His was one of the 156 families that have been shifted to rented houses. But 161 families are still in the camps awaiting rented facilities. The district administration and the Meppadi village panchayat have been struggling to find enough rented houses for the remaining families, sources said.
Before the calamity struck, Mani was happy and contented with his life. Now sitting in a tiny cottage at Munderi, Mani stares at an uncertain future with no money and no job. Having worked as a security staff and a plantation worker for almost 25 years, Mani had been leading a retirement life before the landslides hit. “We had our own home in 10 cents of land and were living a comfortable life. My wife and son were employed in the plantation and I was leading a peaceful life after years of toil,” Mani said. Now all the family members have to find jobs to eke out a living.
Initially, the government would provide families with provisions for 15 days. Officials said the government has supplied everything to help families start their lives anew and will bear the cost of rent till the rehabilitation process is over. “Everything will be supplied to each home based on their needs,” said Meppadi panchayat president K Babu. “Vacant government employees’ quarters have been used to house displaced families. The search is on for houses in neighbouring panchayats,” he said. Those who have lost their entire families will be under special care of the state till they are settled, sources said.
According to Meppadi panchayat secretary Noushad Ali, there is a dearth of rented houses in the region. “We are also searching for rented houses in other nearby panchayats. As the disaster was so shocking most of the families living in the area have been shifted to rented homes. We are trying our best to identify houses and government quarters for the affected families,” he said.
Currently, families are housed in six relief camps. Efforts are on to shift them and start classes in schools which now function as camps. Students from now-destroyed Chooralmala and Mundakkai schools are to be admitted to the Government High School at Meppadi which is functioning as a relief camp.
Registration of employable members of families is also on. Many business groups and tourism organisations have come up with schemes to provide jobs for family members once they are settled in rented houses.
Though Harrisons Malayalam Ltd (HML) said they have repaired labourers' cottages to house 50 labour families, they are not ready to shift as they fear that they will not get new houses and other benefits.
Meanwhile, the Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department has started measures to rehabilitate four tribal families of Punchirimattam in the upper Mundakkai region. " We are yet to receive their willingness to shift from the location. Land has been already identified at Kallumala near Meppadi. So far, 43 tribal families have been evacuated from the spot,'' said G Pramod, district project officer. “
Officials said the plan is to move affected families from relief camps to rented houses by the month's end. Once they are shifted to temporary facilities, the permanent rehabilitation process will begin.
