Pandanad can ill afford another devastation
The authorities had promised her family three cents of land and a house soon after the flood, but nothing has materialised so far.
ALAPPUZHA: The residents of Pandanad in Chengannur are again facing the threat of floods like last year. Illickal river, the tributary of Pampa, is about to overflow.
Chellamma, 79, and her family, who had taken refuge on the rooftop of the building of the Government Homoeo Clinic at Pandanad after they lost everything in the last floods, still continue to stay there.
The authorities had promised her family three cents of land and a house soon after the flood, but nothing has materialised so far.
“Last midnight there was a mike announcement by the authorities asking all riverside residents to leave the place immediately,” she says. “Many residents here have started parking their vehicles on the bridges. More will move to the rooftop if the rain continues,” she says.
As of now, eight members, including children from two families, reside on the rooftop covered with saris and lungies. “We have nowhere to go and are homeless for the last one year. We are not concerned whatever happens,” Aji, 51, an inmate, said.
An inland fisherman, Aji predicts flooding like last year as the river continues to rise due to rainfall in eastern districts like Pathanamthitta and Kottayam.