Cooperative society evicts aged couple; CM Pinarayi Vijayan intervenes
KOCHI: The Tripunithura Housing Cooperative Society has evicted an aged couple and other family members from their residence for defaulting the repayment of a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh taken by the couple. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the incident as “unfortunate” while the State Human Rights Commission ordered a probe into the matter. The evicted persons were rehabilitated in their house later in the day on the directive of the chief minister. He instructed the district collector to take steps to bring back the family to the home and directed the authorities concerned to seek a three-month respite for solving the issue.
The eviction came a day after the chief minister had stated that the government will bring amendments to the revenue recovery Act to prevent the eviction of people having less than five cents of land as part of attachment proceedings. Dramatic scenes were witnessed at Jawahar road on Thursday afternoon as Maradu police visited the spot along with a court official to evict the family, including Raman Korangattu, 77, and Vilasini, 70, a heart patient. The family of six, including Dineshan, son of Raman, his wife Maya, and children Manasi, a Plus-One student and Nanma, a third standard student, was living in the two-room house.
“The authorities dragged us out. When we told them about the severe health condition of the elderly persons, they took them to a hospital,” Maya said. Human Rights Commission chairperson P. Mohana Das visited the family at the general hospital. The family took the loan in 2016 and the debt, including interest, mounted to Rs 2.7 lakh. The Tripunithura Housing Cooperative Society allegedly under the control of the CPM auctioned off the two cents of land and the house for Rs 5 lakh to a person. According to local residents, the land at Jawahar Road near the Kochi-Dhanushkodi Highway fetches a minimum of Rs 6 lakh per cent.
