Survivors, family members pay tribute to victims

PUNE: A year has passed since the deadly landslide that swallowed Malin village. The road to rehabilitation has been a difficult one for the survivors and family members of the victims. In a programme organized in the village on Thursday, they paid tribute to the 151 villagers who lost their lives in the landslide. The event was also attended by local MLA Dilip Walse Patil, who assured that the construction of permanent houses would be complete by next monsoon. He said that the process of identification of a suitable plot for rehabilitation took some time, however, now things would move forward without any delays and hassles. The incident was tragic but people have shown courage to face it, he said. The district administration has identified an 8-acre plot in Amde village located near Malin. The plot has been purchased from a private land owner. The administration’s efforts to identify a plot for permanent rehabilitation within Malin village failed due to various reasons including non-availability of a suitable plot.Patil said that he would follow up on the rehabilitation process with the government to ensure that it gets completed at the earliest. He also said that there was a plan to provide better houses to survivors with common facilities and services.Madhukar Pichad, former tribal minister who also attended the function said that he would stage a sit-in outside the chief minister’s house if the government failed to complete the process of rehabilitation and construction of houses by next year.Villagers also said that they were expecting speedy steps to for the construction of houses to begin at Amde village. A puja was performed in remembrance of the victims. The function was held at a school located at the landslide site. The school is now locked and the classes have been shifted to a safer place.About 40 families reside in the temporary sheds put up at Malin phata. All will shift to permanent houses after completion of construction. Sources in the administration said that they would initiate steps to begin with provision of common amenities at the rehabilitation site after approval from the government.