The State government has announced a rehabilitation package for the families of Sulekha and her two sisters, who were facing the threat of eviction for the Kochi metro rail project near Vyttila.
Visiting Sulekha’s house on Tuesday, District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam conveyed a message from Chief Minister Oommen Chandy regarding the package. The government will meet the expense of renting new houses for these families and allocate four cents at a poramboke land nearby. Compensation for handing over the house and property will also be given to them.
During the visit, the Collector directed the tahsildar and the Punithura village officers to find suitable space for the family to relocate. The district administration will also hold discussions with the Greater Cochin Development Authority in this regard.
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While assuring the families that they would not be denied compensation in the absence of title deeds, the Collector also said that the administration was looking at the possibility of rehabilitating them to an apartment to be constructed at the four cents of land.
Sulekha and her two sisters were to be evicted from the four-cent poramboke property in their possession for nearly 50 years to enable widening of the Vyttila-Pettah road as part of the metro rail project. The piling work using heavy machinery had caused huge cracks to develop along the walls of their house, following which work on the project was stalled for a couple of days.