THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The state government has actively kicked off the process of allotting flats to fishermen families at Muttathara here, but whether the beneficiaries can move in before the end of the current monsoon season remains to be seen.Though construction is over, the flats are not fully ready to receive the families. Work on the sewer lines has been sluggish due to heavy rain.
While formalities related to electricity and water connections have been finalised, the beneficiaries must file applications for them before the connections are actually provided.Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma said her department has allotted 179 of the flats so far, but decision on the remaining ones is pending, largely due to disputes.
‘’We have succeeded in allotting 179 flats, but have set aside the remaining 13 on account of disputes. In some cases, the applicant is involved in marketing the catch. We are giving priority to families who are directly involved in fishing,’’ the minister said.Scores of fishermen families in the neighbouring Valiyathura had been shifted to nearby schools this monsoon season also.
Already, several families have been languishing in relief camps in schools like the Government Regional Technical and Vocational Fisheries HSS and the St Antony’s Higher Secondary School at Valiyathura. These families had been shifted to the schools over a five-year period after their houses were destroyed during the monsoons. Ever since the Ockhi cyclone disaster in November 2017, the fishermen community in Valiyathura and its neighbourhood has been going through a particularly tough period.
Scores of houses, on either side of the Valiyathura Pier, have been taken by the sea. The second row of houses is in grave danger.According to the Fisheries Minister, the department plans to construct more such flats across the state to rehabilitate fishermen families who live within 50 metres of the coastline.“There are 3,000 such families across the state. We will soon lay the foundation stone for flats in Beemapally,’’ she said.