THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday unveiled the township project to rehabilitate the victims of the July 30 Wayanad landslides.
Estimated to cost Rs 750 crore, the township will come up on 58.5 hectares and 48.96 hectares of the Nedumbala Estate in Kottapadi village and Elstone Estate in Kalpetta village, respectively, in Wayanad.
The cabinet decision comes five days after the Kerala High Court, while dismissing the pleas of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd and Elstone Tea Estates Ltd on December 27 allowed the government to take over land for the project.
As per the cabinet’s decision, each beneficiary family will receive either five cents of land at Elstone Estate or 10 cents at Nedumbala Estate, calculated on the basis of the land value.
Pinarayi said the government will strive to complete rehabilitation as early as possible. “Activities are ongoing so that the final list of disaster-affected families is released by January 25,” he said.
Families that lived in houses in the ‘no-go’ zone will also be rehabilitated as part of the project, he said. A study done after the disaster had identified certain areas surrounding the affected places as landslide-prone and classified the houses there as ‘no-go’ zone.
Pinarayi assured that beneficiaries will keep ownership of their land in the disaster-affected areas even after relocating to the township, and also get ownership of the respective properties in the township with a rider on the cut-off date for resale.
The Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society has been chosen as the contractor for the construction work. The project will be led by the Wayanad Reconstruction Committee chaired by the CM.
He said the government is also considering the possibility of using the landslide-affected land for productive purposes such as collective farming so that it does not become a forest area.
Meanwhile, training guns on the Centre, Pinarayi said the delay in declaring the landslides as a disaster of ‘severe nature’ deprived Kerala of the chance to avail funds from UN agencies and various NGOs.
“Though the Inter-Ministerial Central Team recommended the Home Ministry to declare the tragedy as a disaster
of ‘severe nature’ within a month of the incident, no action was taken for two months,” he said.
CM calls for convening National Disaster Management Authority meet
“The inordinate delay in declaring the landslide as a disaster of ‘severe nature’ denied us the opportunity to secure additional assistance from UN agencies and NGOs,” Pinarayi said.
He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority to consider the state’s request to write off debts of those affected by the disaster.
The CM said the state has decided to utilise the opportunities that open up after the Centre formally acknowledged its demand to declare the landslides as a disaster of ‘severe nature’.
These include the possibility of using up to 25% of funds allocated for various projects implemented with central aid, and 50% of the amount received through SASCI (Scheme for Special Assistance to State for Capital Investment) for disaster relief and reconstruction of disaster-affected areas, besides requesting all MPs of the country to allocate funds towards the reconstruction of Meppadi.
Government’s plan
Township to come up on 58.5 hectares and 48.96 hectares of Nedumbala Estate in Kottapadi and Elstone Estate in Kalpetta village, respectively, in Wayanad.
In addition to houses, township to have recreational facilities, a market, a health centre, a school, anganwadi, a playground, electricity, drinking water and sanitation facilities.
1,000 sq ft Built-up area of each house.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan says work on to release final list of disaster-affected families by January 25.
Government also considering possibility of using landslide-affected land for productive purposes such as collective farming so that it does not become a forest area.