Punnapuzha surge: Irked residents say ‘safe zone’ areas no longer safe

Kozhikode: On Wednesday, a sudden surge in the Punnapuzha flowing through Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad, areas hit by 2024 landslides, forced nearby residents to protest. These residents had been excluded from the list of landslide victims eligible for rehabilitation and daily livelihood allowance. They questioned the logic behind the ‘go' and ‘no-go' zones defined by the John Mathai committee report.Residents of Padavettikunnu, Attamala, Rattakolly and nearby areas, previously marked as safe, gathered at the Bailey bridge connecting Chooralmala to Mundakkai. They blocked revenue officials — including the village officer, tahsildar and others — who arrived at the spot, accusing them of unscientific demarcation of safe zones after the 2024 landslide."The areas marked as ‘go' zone, located just 50m away from the river banks, are now in danger. Padavettikunnu has 27 houses, but the road to the area is now underwater because of the water surge," said Yusuf, a resident of Padavettikunnu.He added that the govt had initially said around 1,020 families would be rehabilitated at the upcoming township in Elstone Estate, but that number has dropped to around 400 now. This leaves many people with no choice but to live in unsafe conditions. "We should learn from today's incident, especially since it is only June and more rain is expected in the coming months," he said.District panchayat president Shamshad Marakkar, who visited the site, said that just three days of rain proved the areas marked safe for habitation by John Mathai are actually uninhabitable. "After the heavy rain, we now know for sure that living in places like Rattakolly and Padavettikunnu is difficult," he said.Protesters accused the village officer of submitting misleading reports that excluded their families from the list eligible for the Rs 300 daily allowance. Tensions arose when special officer Ashwini Kumar and Vythiri tahsildar V Bindu arrived. The protestors insisted they would not let these officials leave without issuing an order to grant them the daily allowance.Protesters demanded immediate assurance that all affected residents would receive the allowance. The agitation ended only after additional district magistrate K Devaki arrived around 4.30pm and promised to consider their demand sympathetically within two days.