No respite to Moolampilly woes

 Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash has said that a meeting would be convened in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and all the various stakeholders concerned over the Moolampilly package.

 The Minister was speaking at the house-warming ceremonies of one of the evictees under the Moolampilly package.

 Responding to the allegations raised by S Sarma MLA over corruption and noncooperation of the officials of the Cochin Port Trust in the implementation of the project, the minister said that necessary steps would be taken in this regard.

 The general secretary of the Moolampilly coordination committee, Francis Kalathingal, meanwhile, raised criticism over the non-implementation of the package more than fourand- a-half years after its was inked.

 “Even if we include the latest house-warming being held today, the total number of evictees who have been rehabilitated comes to just 17 out of the total 316.

 The rest are still living in rented houses, on mortgage and even in sheds,” said Francis Kallathingal.

 T h u t h i y o o r , n e a r Kakkanad, one of the sites identified to rehabilitate 110 evictees has not got roads, power and water supply, due to the continuing procedural and technical delay even while the cost of constructing new houses was increasing at alarming rates, he said.

 The District Collector assured that the delay was only due to technical reasons and the rains and that the areas would be ready in a few months.

 Another issue raised was the government’s noncommitment in granting employment to one family member in the Vallarpadom project, as was mentioned in the first agreement by the Kerala government in 2008.

 Though the UDF Government pledged its commitment for the cause, and two ministers, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Union Civil Supplies Minister K V Thomas were entrusted to monitor the same, no progress has been made on the issue.

 In fact, an RTI query sent to the Port Trust on the issue said the promise could not be fulfilled as it was a BOT project.

 The authorities also did keep its word that income tax would not be levied on the new houses of the evictees.

 However, they were charged about `1 lakh or so on the income tax.

 The minister said that this would be taken up with the Income Tax authorities.