New houses for Pettimudy victims to be handed over tomorrow

All facilities arranged in the 550-sq ft houses: District Collector

The keys to the new houses built for Pettimudy landslip victims at Kuttiyarvalley will be handed over to them on Sunday.

Revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan and Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan will attend a programme arranged as part of it at Tea County, Munnar. Electricity Minister M.M. Mani will hand over the keys at Kuttiyarvalley.

The district administration had allotted 50 cents of land for construction of eight houses at Kuttiyarvalley. A report submitted by a team led by Munnar special tahsildar Binu Joseph found that eight families were eligible for rehabilitation. Earlier, KDHP Company allocated ₹1 crore for the construction of the houses, which were completed in a time-bound manner.

Road, power, and walls

District collector H. Dinesan said that all facilities were arranged in the 550-sq ft houses. There were road connectivity and power distribution to the new houses. Protection walls were also constructed, he said, adding that the process of distribution of compensation to the victims was almost completed. Mr. Mani had laid the foundation stone for the houses on November 1. According to officials, the KDHP company completed the construction work within 100 days.

In the major landslip on August 6, 2020, at Pettimudy in Munnar, four tea estate layams (clusters of workers’ quarters) were buried under the debris. Only 12 persons could be rescued. The landslip claimed 66 lives with four still missing.