Authorities chalk out R Block rehab plan

ALAPPUZHA: For the last four months, R.Block, a remote residential area in Kuttanad with just 24 families, remain inundated, making their life miserable. 
The authorities are relocating them, and 17 of them have given their consent but are anxious about the package. Others resist, suspecting an attempt to dismantle their habitat. 

They want their houses built on pillars instead, citing an Rs 16.5-core package offered by the government in 2014 to revive 1450-acre R. Block Kayal lands lying barren since 2013.

The two-crop Holland project launched here in 1961 had built outer bunds and installed 21 pumps for dewatering, which was functioning smoothly till then.
K.P. Achuthanandan, 48, who is reluctant to leave, says he received no assurance on his land. 

"I've 10 cents here. They offered Rs 10 lakh (Rs 6 lakh for land and Rs 4 lakh for building a house on it). That's too little. If the government acquires our property, I will lose everything. So I decided that it's better to be here," he said.

"Life in R. block was on track till 2013 as dewatering continued properly. Once they start working properly, life will get back on track."

M.D. Bharghavan, 69, who signed the consent note earlier this month, says he's tired of searching a three-cent plot for Rs 6 lakh. Nobody is selling land at this rate.

A.U. Pennamma, 69, is now half-hearted after signing. She has three cents and a house here. 

"We will move only after getting an assurance that they won't take our land. We want to live here during the farming season," she said. C.S. Sajeesh, 48, is a little bit cynical about the package. 

'This is the place where we can find multiple sources of income including seasonal farming, fishing, rearing chicken, duck and cattle and collection of thick grass that grows in abundance," he said. 

"You will find this ecosystem anywhere else. If they build houses for us on pillars here to combat flooding, we are happy."          
But district collector S. Suhas is quite confident. 

"Their land will not be taken away. There is no law to do so," he said. "Most of them are ready to move out as it's turned uninhabitable," he said. 

Asked about the Rs 16.5 crore project, he said the agriculture department was implementing it. He did not go into detail. A.D. Kunjachan, vice-president of Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU), a resident here, blamed bureaucratic apathy for the delay.