KALPETTA: Sanil MC, a daily-wage labourer from Wayanad, who lost his house during last year’s flood, has committed suicide allegedly due to the delay in getting the relief fund. The 42-year-old was found hanging in his makeshift home in his property at Thrikaipatta in Meppadi on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, authorities said around `2 lakh has already been sanctioned to him under the Rebuild Kerala initiative, but it did not get credited in his account due to technical issues. According to his brother-in-law Mohanan, Sanil had approached the grama panchayat authorities many a time as he had not received even the preliminary aid of Rs 10,000. “After his house was completely destroyed, Sanil along with family had been living in a rented house. Recently, they shifted to a tent-like temporary setup in his property,” said Mohanan.
Though Sanil had 11 cents of land, only two cents have proper documents and the rest is Poramboke. Meppadi grama panchayat president Sahad K said Sanil knew that he was in the beneficiary list under the Rebuild Kerala scheme.
“The ward member had informed his wife about this when she attended the grama sabha. He was the first beneficiary under the Prime Minister Awas Yojna (PMAY) project in the panchayat,” said Sahad.
Meanwhile, Vythiri tahsildar T P Abdul Harris told TNIE that nearly `2 lakh has been transferred into Sanil’s account under the Rebuild Kerala scheme.
“Sanil’s house had suffered more than 75 per cent damage in the flood and hence it was included in the ‘completely damaged’ category. Under the Rebuild Kerala initiative, he was selected for `4-lakh compensation. Of this, around Rs 2 lakh has been transferred to his account in the first phase. But the amount was not credited due to the zero-balance issues of his account,” said Abdul Harris. On the allegation that Sanil had not received the preliminary aid, the panchayat president said only those who were in the camps during the flood and landslides were given Rs 10,000.
“Sanal was living with his relatives at the time,” he said. Sanal is survived by his wife, a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. The grama panchayat has decided to bear the education expenses of his children.