ALAPPUZHA: After years pressure, the government has sanctioned Rs 4.74 crore to rehabilitate 79 homeless fishers including nine families staying at New LP School, Purakkad, since 2012. The fisheries department has prepared a list of beneficiaries including everyone in the camp. Prejithkumar, former Purakkad panchayat president, said each family would get Rs 6 lakh to buy land and later Rs 4 lakh to build a house. The department will set up a helpdesk for them," he said. N. K. Prasannakumari, the headmistress of the school, demanded immediate steps to remove the camp.
"We hope to conduct academic activities smoothly from the next academic year onwards," she said. It was Deccan Chronicle which first reported this on November 29, following which the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) sitting here in December ordered its removal. District collector Veena N. Madhavan had also made a visit there, to understand concerns students and teachers last month. “Out of 90 families homeless in Purakkad, many are living either with relatives or rented homes. The government should immediately take steps to rehabilitate all," panchayat president Rahmath Hamid said.
The report carried by DC on November 30 about the dilemma of students of Purakkad.
Sea erosion has been leaving many homeless here. In 2013 there were eight families displaced while it rose to 11 in 2014, and 39 in 2015. Though the season of sea erosion is yet to begin, this year so far the number has touched 22. Saraswathy, 60, who stays at the camp, said all families there had found a place on the list. They were living at the school since July 2012. Some 50 home families in Purakkad and Ambalappuzha South and North are out of the list.
