Moolampilly rehabilitation package: Dredged soil may be used for filling flood-prone sites in consultation with Cochin Port Authority

Steps will be taken to use the soil dredged by the Cochin Port Authority (CPA), which is now being dumped in the outer sea, to fill the rehabilitation sites, which are prone to flooding, given to families evicted for the road and rail connectivity to the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) in a cost-effective manner, Ernakulam District Collector N.S.K. Umesh has said. He said follow-up measures would be taken after consultations with the CPA.

He has agreed to bring the matter to the notice of the new Collector who is set to replace him. Palakkad District Collector G. Priyanka is set to replace Mr. Umesh who has been appointed as Director of General Education in the recent reshuffle of top officials.

Mr. Umesh, also the chairman of the Moolamppilly Rehabilitation Package Monitoring Committee, had visited the rehabilitation cites at Thuthiyoor in Vazhakkala village given to 170 families with officials on July 29. The site at Indira Nagar spread across 7.5 acres has been divided into 114 plots and the one at Adarsh Nagar into 56 plots. Families have been complaining that the plots assigned in both the sites were too marshy and unfit for constructions.

The Collector visited the sites on a request by the Moolamppilly Coordination Committee at the last meeting of the monitoring committee. It has been pointed out that pumping in the dredged soil to the site at Indira Nagar, being by the shore of the Kadamprayar river, would not involve much cost. However, the same cannot be said about 56 rehabilitation plots at Adarsh Nagar, which is away from the water body. The original cost of ₹50 lakh set for filling the plot has no takers, and the revised estimate by Irrigation department officials has pegged the cost at around ₹1.02 crore.

A clear picture about ways to stabilise the two plots may emerge at the next meeting of the Moolamppilly Rehabilitation Package Monitoring Committee, scheduled for August 22.

CPA representatives are also members of the committee. The coordination committee members have also aired their concerns about the alleged attempts being made by real estate agents to sell off rehabilitation plots, taking advantage of the frustration and helplessness of the evictees.

As many as 316 families from seven villages were evicted for the road and rail connectivity of ICTT. Since then, 36 evictees have died.