CPI activists on Monday took out a protest march to the Kumaranallur village office alleging that hundreds of people who had suffered losses in landslips in Karassery panchayat had failed to get eligible compensation owing to laxity on the part of Revenue officials.
According to the protesters, village officials should be held responsible for not including Karassery panchayat as an affected region in the official list.
“There were 26 incidents of landslips in various locations in the panchayat. Of them, nine were in my ward at Thottassery. The flaws in the field report prepared by the Revenue squad have resulted in the denial of compensation to needy people,” ward member Lissy Scaria said. She alleged that the squad had even ignored the fact that the panchayat had opened one of the biggest relief camps in the district at Thottassery during the monsoon season.
Ms. Scaria complained that the panchayat had been excluded from the list claiming that there were no casualties. “During field visits, the squad members had clearly witnessed the magnitude of landslips and the loss suffered by residents,” she said.
“This was not laxity on the part of any elected representative or leader but negligence of revenue officials,” CPI branch secretary N. Valsan argued. He alleged that Revenue officials were in an unholy alliance with quarry operators and had not projected the actual impact of quarrying in ecologically-sensitive areas in the panchayat. “We will continue our fight until all eligible victims got compensation,” he said.
CPI leader C.K. Kannan inaugurated the dharna. Most protesters were from Ward - 6 where the squad had reportedly failed to take note of the post-flood situation and rehabilitation needs.