Vellamunda: Houses built under a Scheduled Tribe (ST) rehabilitation project in Paliyana ward of Vellamunda panchayat are rapidly falling into ruin, now overrun by thickets and wild vegetation. With more than half of the 38 houses constructed here lying abandoned, the multi-crore public initiative has virtually gone to waste.

The project, titled ‘Paliyana Unnathi’, was launched seven years ago after the authorities acquired nearly six acres of land. Alongside the houses, several lakhs of rupees were invested in establishing a dedicated drinking water system, a study centre, a community hall, and paved concrete roads. The scheme catered to beneficiaries from within Vellamunda panchayat as well as neighbouring areas.

However, the settlement was left deserted after a majority of the families decided they had had enough and returned to their native hamlets. Locals point out that an acute shortage of clean drinking water, compounded by poorly chosen, inhospitable terrain for construction, ultimately forced the residents out. Demands are now mounting for the authorities to address the infrastructure bottlenecks in these vacant homes and hand them over to other landless tribal families in genuine need of shelter.