As Wayanad fills headlines, Vilangad waits for promised help

Kozhikode: When it rains heavily or a strong wind gushes, the people of Vilangad, in Vanimel panchayat, Kozhikode, call up district and disaster management officials to check whether there is any possibility of a landslip.

Ever since a series of landslides washed away the entire village, the mountainous and ecologically fragile area in the valleys of Kannavam Forest in Kozhikode, and parts of Naripatta panchayat on July 30, people have been living on the edge. When the bigger and more disastrous tragedy in Wayanad makes the headlines on a daily basis, affected people in Vilangad are waiting for the promised help. They were assured that they would be treated on par with Wayanad victims, but they now feel they have been left in the lurch.

On October 30, they came together to protest in Vilangad town with the support of all political parties and other organisations. They held a sit-in protest in front of the village office.

Thanks to the alacrity of the local authorities and the residents' vigilance, casualties at Vilangad were restricted to one. However, farmlands, buildings, houses, roads, and bridges were swept away, and 30 families lost their houses completely. The buildings that were left standing became inhabitable. Sixty families are living in rented houses now. Matured teaks, rubber plantations, coconut trees, and areca nut palms were completely lost in the gush of land that slid down the slope with a vengeance.

Sabu Nandikattu, who lives in a rented house in Vilangad town, visits Manjacheeli, which he once called home. His visits make him sadder. “There is nothing left there. All I can see are mounds of soil and rocks. It's not possible to even enter the area,” he said. 

Sabu lost everything, including his house on 15 cents of plot and 2.85 acres of farmland, in which he and his wife worked hard for decades. It was filled with hundreds of matured teak woods, coconut trees, arecanut palms and coco plants, Sabu said. 

“We escaped with nothing but the clothes on our back. I don't even have a photo of our house. Now I go for rubber tapping to earn a livelihood,” he said.

The government's apathy hurts him even harder. “Except for the help in the first month, we got nothing from the government. We struggle to find a day's livelihood and pay the monthly house rent. All my three children are studying in Bengaluru. There are multiple bank loans to repay,” he said.

Jotheesh Kulathinkal did not lose his house, but his two-acre rubber plantation at Manakkunnu was wiped out. He used to sell 15kg of sheets daily during the season. He lost 380 rubber trees, nearly 40 matured teaks, and other cash crops.

“If a proper, scientific plan exists, we can recover our farmlands. If we can divide the land into multiple levels with retaining walls, it will be filled with soil during each rainy season. It may take years, but it's worth the effort. We can get our farmlands back,” Jotheesh said. Now, he cuts grass to earn a living.

Apart from the monthly rent, the government promised a daily wage of Rs 300 each for two adults in a family for 90 days, a moratorium on their bank loans and rehabilitation of each of the families who lost their houses in Vilangad or neighbouring areas. But they have been given a nominal aid of Rs 10,000 as an emergency aid in the beginning and Rs 6,000 as month's house rent and Rs 9,000 as a month's wage for working adults.

At present, 60 families from the panchayat are living in rented houses. “Rehabilitation of the homeless families is their prime demand. For that, areas marked as safe in the recently conducted surveys should be set aside to build houses,” Vilangad panchayat president P Surayya. “The state government promised monthly rent and daily wages. But they got the money for a month,” she added.

However, villagers point out that Vilanagad needs to be rejuvenated, along with basic infrastructure like bridges and roads, wells, and ponds, to become inhabitable again.

However, government officials point out that things are moving in the right direction. Recently, a high-level meeting was convened, presided over by minister K Rajan, in Thiruvananthapuram. After deliberations, he told the media that the government would ensure that homeless residents get the promised rent and daily wage properly. He said rehabilitation efforts would be quickened, and Rs 2 crore would be allotted to remove the soil in the cultivable land and waste from the river.