Govt support a blended bag for flood survivors in worst-hit Pathanamthitta

Express News Service
After a go to to the distant tribal colonies alongside the Sabarimala forests in Ranni, we headed to the city areas of the constituency that had been ravaged by the deluge of 2018. Two and a half years later, many of the households nonetheless complain of the lopsided method through which compensation was disbursed for the homes broken by the raging floodwaters. At Cherukolpuzha, one of many worst-hit areas in Pathanamthitta, we might see remnants of what the gushing floodwaters had delivered to the homes and outlets within the neighborhood. Large portions of white-coloured silt lay on both facet of the street at Ayroor-Cherukolpuzha, the place Hindu non secular meet is held yearly on the banks of the Pampa. 

Residents of Ayroor-Cherukolpuzha imagine the opening of the numerous dams upstream aggravated the catastrophe that struck this small city on the evening of August 14, 2018. But what pains them extra is the apathy on the a part of the administration in offering them satisfactory compensation. Most of them indicated that their resentment would mirror within the upcoming election as effectively. 

“It cost us at least a one and a half lakh rupees to clean the house of the silt and sludge and to make it liveable. But what we got was less than half the amount as compensation. We are still running behind the officials,” stated Pankajakshi Amma, a neighborhood resident. 

According to Preetha B Nair, former member of Cherukolpuza ward, the distribution of compensation has been as per the whims and fancies of the officers. “While people close to the ruling party managed to get compensation up to Rs 2.5 lakh, those without political backing had to be satisfied with Rs 10,000 provided as immediate relief,” she stated. Preetha’s home was additionally among the many many dwellings broken within the flood. 

Sreekala KK is joyful at being provideda new home close to Ranni city below thestate authorities’s Care Home undertaking(Express Photo | Sovi Vidyadharan)As we headed additional north to Ranni city, photos of the 2018 deluge, when your entire city on both facet of the Pampa lay flooded for a lot of days, got here again to our minds. Scores of homes and business institutions suffered heavy injury in Ranni panchayat.

While compensation was offered to partially broken homes, many of the homes that had been fully destroyed had been rebuilt by voluntary teams and the federal government. 

Sunil Cheruthalayam, who resides close to Ranni police station, rescued at the very least 20 individuals stranded in homes on the banks of the Pampa in a rustic boat and moved them to increased floor. “I acquired bitten by a toxic snake in the course of the rescue effort and was hospitalised for a lot of days.

My home acquired washed away within the flood however I used to be fortunate to be among the many beneficiaries of homes constructed by charity employee M S Sunil,” he stated. TNIE additionally visited two homes constructed by the state authorities below the Care Home undertaking close to the SC Pre-matric Hostel at Ranni. “We were homeless for a year. But our wait did bring its reward. Within a year, we were provided with a new house,” stated Sreekala Ok Ok, the beneficiary of one of many homes.