Land subsidence a threat to lives, govt begins rehab

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has initiated steps to shift people from a village at Kelakam panchayat in Kannur where severe land subsidence poses risk to human lives. Deep craters and fissures have surfaced in houses and adjacent plots at Kailasampadi, an area under Santhigiri ward in Kelakam panchayat.
Around 130 people in 34 houses have been living in fear for the last one decade after cracks began to surface on walls and on the floor. Every year the cracks would widen and fissures would deepen, spreading panic among the residents. An inspection by a team of state disaster management authority (SDMA) attributed the occurrence of frequent cracks to soil piping, where tunnels are formed underground due to subsurface soil erosion. The district collector reported in 2022 that around 15 families have to be rehabilitated.
SDMA informed that cracks had widened dangerously in seven houses and there was a possibility of the houses sinking and hence emergency measures were needed to shift its residents. The state government has now given sanction to rehabilitate these families.
The families will get Rs 6 lakh to purchase land and construct houses and Rs 4 lakh from the SDMA relief fund.
Benny Kanjirakulam (47), a daily wage labourer, has been living in his house for 30 years. He was forced to shift his 74-year-old mother to his sister’s place and now lives alone in a house with cracks. “Even my plot looks like it has been cut open. Cracks have surfaced in my house since 2021. It has now become too dangerous to live. I am holding on as long as I can,” said Kanjirakulam, who is from one of the seven families being shifted from Kailasampadi.
According to a study by National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) on land disturbances due to soil piping affecting the critical zones in Western Ghats of Kerala, Kannur district is one of the severely prone to such incidents. The field investigation revealed more than 17 major soil pipes in the district. The study noted that in the critically-affected areas, infrastructure such as roads, buildings, etc, will be affected, and called for restrictions on high-rise buildings.