KOCHI: Anashwara Shinu, a fifth-grade student and resident of P&T Colony, could not sleep on Friday night. Though most of the nights at P&T Colony are sleepless, especially during the monsoon and high tide days, this one was out of the excitement of her dream of a safe house promised four years ago becoming a reality.
“The house is beautiful, and the best part is that my elder brother and I will have a room of our own. We will no longer have to adjust and curl up like we used to do at our old home. This one is spacious, and there is a shower inside the bathroom,” said Anashwara.
Just like her, the 82 families of P & T Colony were happy when Minister for Local Self Government M B Rajesh inaugurated the new building at Mundamveli built by the Greater Cochin Development Authority under the Life Mission project.
As the residents walked into the new building to see their new abode, the first thought they had was that from now on they won’t have to suffer the ordeal of moving to relief camps whenever rainwater sinks their homes.
“Life is miserable at P&T Colony. Every rainy season, we have to move to relief camps, as it’s the first spot in the city to be inundated. For over 35 years, we have been living in this condition. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan promised us a house in 2018, and after five years, the project is nearing completion. Even on Friday night, I couldn’t sleep and I was constantly checking whether the street was inundated as it started raining,” said Asha Shinu, a lottery seller and resident of P&T Colony.
The residents also raised concerns about the lack of a lift facility in the four-storey building built for them. They said that there are many senior citizens and pregnant women among them, and it will be difficult for them to climb up and down during an emergency. The residents said they would raise their concerns with the officials.
Kamakshi Selvan, a Kudumbashree worker, was happy that after two more weeks, she would no longer have to live amid unfriendly creatures like reptiles, rats, and mosquitoes and sleep at night without worrying about water entering the house when it rains.
“The air here feels a hundred times better than the stench from the Perandoor Canal. Now I am counting the days until I move into the new house,” said Kamakshi. All 82 families will shift to the new house after September 15.