E.M. MANOJ
KALPETTA
Seventeen of the 20 families of the Thiruvannur Paniya tribal settlement under the Noolpuzha grama panchayat, a major tribal populated local body in Wayanad district, rejoiced when they got permission from the government to reconstruct their dilapidated houses under the LIFE Mission housing project two years ago.
They handed over the construction work to a private contractor after demolishing their old houses. “We expected that the works would be completed before the monsoon, but the works came to a halt nearly five months ago owing to the dearth of funds”, T. Channa, a tribeswoman of the hamlet, said.
“Now, the seven members of my family are living in a makeshift hut covered with low quality plastic sheets raised on the foundation of our new house”, she said.
“The heavy wind accompanied by summer rain is a nightmare to us as at any moment the temporary shed would be destroyed in the wind,” said Beena Mani, a tribeswoman of the Pachady Kattunayakkan settlement on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. “If the government agencies provide the remaining funds for the purpose, we can complete the construction work before the monsoon,” she said.
A sum of ₹6 lakh would be allotted to each selected tribal family to construct a house, including ₹3 lakh by the Tribal Development Department, ₹80,000 by the tree-tier local bodies and ₹2.20 lakh by the Kerala Urban & Rural Development Finance Corporation Limited (KURDFC).
Though the grama panchayat and the Wayanad District Panchayat had provided their shares, the block panchayat and the KURDFC were yet to provide their contribution, said Sheeja Satheesh, president of Noolpuzha panchayat.
“The Tribal Development Department has also failed to provide the full amount so far”, Ms. Satheesh said, adding that it had given only ₹2 lakh for the purpose.
The government had permitted the reconstruction of 275 tribal houses under the LIFE Mission in the civic body, of which the construction work of 108 houses has been completed. Those who have completed the construction works are also in a fix as they had undertaken the work after borrowing huge amounts from their friends and private money lenders, expecting the financial assistance from government in a time-bound manner..
The condition of other tribal families in the district is not different.
According to Tribal Development Department sources, the government had allotted permission to 3,200 houses in the three taluks in the district, of which the construction works of 2,000 houses were yet to be completed owing to the dearth of funds.
