On housewarming, couple in Kerala's Kasaragod donates five cents each to 10 landless families

Sajeev and Jeya Mattathil formed a committee to identify the beneficiaries; committee got 60 applications from faraway places such as Kottayam and Cherthala.
Sajeev and Jeya Mattathil
Sajeev and Jeya Mattathil

KASARAGOD: For 26 years, Sandhya Vineeth, a single mother, has been living in a cramped rented house at Koolipara in Bheemanady in West Eleri panchayat. She does odd jobs to take care of her ailing parents and young children.

Around 50km away in Kannur district's Thaliparamba lives Leelamma, a widow who recently lost her job because of a spinal injury. She has two young children.

And there is Sainaba in Nileshwar, 40km from Thaliparamba. Her husband abandoned her, leaving two sons and two daughters in her care. Sainaba, who is living with her brother in Chayoth, is under a mountain of debt because she has been borrowing money for the treatment of her only daughter with a disability.

If all goes well, the three women and their families will soon be neighbours in a place called Kanakapally in the Kodom-Bellur panchayat of Kasaragod.

Last Sunday (May 8), they became owners of five cents each, thanks to a gift from Sajeev M G Mattathil and his wife Jeya Sajeev.

Not just these three women, the couple gave five cents each to seven other persons from Kannur and Kasaragod districts. All of them were given the title deeds of the plots on Sunday. The occasion was the housewarming of their 5,000-sq-ft house, 4km away.

The beneficiaries who got five cents each from Sajeev and Jeya
Mattathil visiting their new land at Kanakapally near Parappa in
Vellarikkundu taluk of Kasaragod.

Fifteen years ago, when the couple bought a plot in Kanakapally to build a house, they decided to give something back to society. "I suggested we give some money to some people in need. But Jeya said we should give land to landless people. We agreed." said Sajeev Mattathil, who owns acres of rubber estate in Balal and Kodom-Bellur panchayats and also practised acupuncture.

They started construction work on their house three years ago. In December 2021, when the work was nearing completion, he told his friends about giving land to 10 landless families.

They formed a 10-member committee, with Peter Kaneesh, vicar of St Martin de Porres Church in Kanakapally, as the patron. "All members of the committee were my friends. I told them only two things. All the persons they select should be deserving, and of the 10 beneficiaries, four should be Christians, three Hindus and three Muslims," he said.

The committee held a press conference and called for applications for land in December. They got around 60 applications from places such as Kottayam and Cherthala.

The committee shortlisted applications from Kannur and Kasaragod because the chances of the beneficiaries from these two districts coming to live in Kanakapally are higher. Then the search committee visited the houses of each of the applicants, conducted discreet enquiries and selected the beneficiaries.

Their findings flouted one condition of Mattathil. Of the 10 beneficiaries, seven were Hindus, two were Muslims and one Christian. "I said four Christians because I am a Christian. But I could not find any fault with their list," said Mattathil.

The other beneficiaries of the Mattathils are Bindu of Berikulam near Parappa; Yamuna, 41, of Arangadi near Kanhangad; Sumathi of Eriya in Pullur-Periya panchayat; Bincy of Eramkunil in Parappa; Sabu KC, a paralysed man from Eriya; Karthiyani in Bengalam near Nileshwar; and Naseema of Bedadka panchayat in Kasaragod.

The roadside plots have a market rate of Rs 1 lakh per cent. The Mattathils set aside around 60 cents so that each plot has road access.

Sajeev Mattathil said the committee members and he have approached Kodom-Bellur panchayat to help the families build houses on the plot. "The panchayat leaders said they were eligible for houses under the LIFE Mission," he said.

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