Thrikkaipatta, Wayanad: A poor labourer who was fed up with the delay in getting government relief after losing his house in the devastating floods last year committed suicide at his temporary accommodation in Wayanad.
The body of Sanal Kumar, 40, a native of Munjelil Pallikavala in Thrikaipatta, was found hanging at his make-shift tent by his relatives at 7:30pm on Monday.
Angry local residents prevented officials from shifting his body to hospital for autopsy insisting that all benefits due to Kumar's family should be released immediately. They also demanded steps to settle the documentary issues over the land in the possession of the family.
The tehasildar who rushed to the site ordered speedy disbursal of relief to Kumar's relatives and possession certificate to the land belonging to the family. Following this, the local residents ended their protest.
His relatives alleged that he was frustrated with the delay in getting aid even after visiting government offices repeatedly. He had failed to get even the initial payment of Rs 10,000 announced by the government as immediate relief, they claimed.
He had made several rounds to various government offices last week also to check the status of the application he submitted for getting relief from the government, they added.
His house, which was constructed on a small plot, was completely damaged in the 2019 and 2018 floods. Since then the family has been living in a tent constructed by Kumar's friends.
Kumar looked after his family comprising his wife Sajini and two children-Navneeth and Navya, by working as a daily wage labourer. He likely missed out on government aid and government's housing scheme as he did not have possession certificate for the land in his name. He was agitated as he was not in the list of beneficiaries who were given houses as part of the Life Mission project of the state government by which people without land or house are helped.
It was only a few days ago the state government had trumpeted that it had over two lakh houses to the landless under the Life Mission project.
Kumar's body was cremated on Tuesday evening after conducting the post-mortem.
