Nearly a week after a major landslide hit houses of plantation workers in Idukki’s Pettimudi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the spot on Thursday. The Chief Minister announced that the government will aid in the construction of new houses for disaster-hit families.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, state Ministers, people’s representatives and government officials, along with the Chief Minister, visited the scene of the tragedy to assess the situation.
After an evaluation meeting at Munnar, CM Pinarayi appreciated rescue workers, who have been engaged in search and rescue operations since August 7.
“After the tragedy, only a few members of many families are alive. There are children among the survivors and their education must be continued. The government will have to identify a new place for constructing houses for them,” the CM said.
He said the state government has asked a tea estate company to assist the government in identifying a place for building the houses.
“The state government will take care of the educational expenses of the children and the medical expenses of the injured. At the meeting, the current situation of the ‘layams’ or line houses where the workers resided, was drawn to the attention of the authorities. The government will consider that too,” CM Pinarayi said.
The Chief Minister had come under criticism for the delay in visiting Pettimudi. Notably, the Chief Minister along with the Governor and other cabinet Ministers had visited Kozhikode a day after the Karipur air crash. Both disasters had hit the state last Friday within a gap of some hours. The CM had however explained in his press conference about the difficulty involved in reaching the spot that was delaying his visit.
The government has earlier announced Rs 5 lakh as initial financial aid for the families of those who died in the landslide.
The death toll in the Pettimudi landslide stands at 55 with three more bodies being recovered on Wednesday from the debris. Eighteen people lost their lives in the Karipur air crash.
In Pettimudi, about 15 missing people are yet to be found. Thursday’s rescue operations, led by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), had to be ended, without making more recoveries.
Ministers MM Mani and E Chandrasekharan, and Member of Parliament Dean Kuriakose, and ES Bijimol, MLA, were among those who accompanied the Chief Minister and the Governor during the visit to Pettimudi.
(With PTI input)
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