Disaster-resilient townships in Wayanad for landslide victims: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has informed his Karnataka counterpart, Siddaramaiah, that the Kerala government has identified two locations in Vythiri taluk to build sustainable and disaster-resilient townships for families affected by the recent landslides in Wayanad.

In a letter to Siddaramaiah, Vijayan expressed his deep gratitude for Karnataka's offer to build 100 houses for the affected families. This was in response to Siddaramaiah’s earlier communication, which raised concerns over a lack of guidelines from Kerala regarding the implementation of the project.

Siddaramaiah had proposed to purchase land in Wayanad to construct homes for the displaced families, whose lives were devastated by the landslides. In his reply, dated December 13, Vijayan assured Siddaramaiah that Kerala is in the process of finalizing a comprehensive sponsorship framework. This framework aims to integrate all the support offers, including Karnataka's, into a unified plan to assist the disaster-affected families. The plan will feature real-time tracking facilities to monitor progress.

The Kerala government is focusing on rehabilitating the affected families at locations that are not vulnerable to future disasters while ensuring that the new sites are located near their previous homes, to which people are emotionally attached.

Siddaramaiah, in his letter dated December 9, had emphasized that the initiative was to provide a stable and secure environment for families who had lost homes, livelihoods, and loved ones in the devastating landslides of July 30.

The disaster, which struck the Mundakkai and Chooralmala regions, resulted in the loss of over 200 lives and left many others injured.

With PTI inputs