Family in Kasaragod seeks relief as highway construction renders home unsafe

Mavungal: After giving up part of their land for National Highway development, Baby of Moolakkandam and her family now live in constant fear inside their own home, which has been left unsafe by the very project they helped make possible.

Baby, a beedi worker, and her husband Ramakrishnan, a painting worker, built their dream house through years of hard work and sacrifice. Today, however, they say the house has become so unsafe that they cannot even lie down and sleep peacefully.

The house stands on nine cents of land that Baby had inherited as family property. Of this, two cents in front were acquired for the highway project. The family says that once the service road adjoining the Moolakkandam underpass is completed, the road level will lie about five metres below the house, leaving them without proper access to their home.

During the construction of the main carriageway using heavy machinery, cracks developed in the concrete roof and walls. Baby’s son Abhilash said that during the monsoon, rainwater seeped through the cracks and even caused electric shocks when the walls were touched, forcing the family to carry out emergency repairs to make the house temporarily habitable.

Realising that continuing to live there would not be possible, the family submitted a complaint to the District Collector, who is also the arbitrator, seeking acquisition of the remaining property including the house. However, they allege that the Land Records Tahsildar misled the Collector by reporting that the house was located at a safe distance from the highway and was not adversely affected.

At the same time, the Special Deputy Collector of the National Highway Land Acquisition section submitted a report stating that if the service road was constructed at a depth of five metres, access to the house would become difficult. The Ajanur Village Officer also filed a report favourable to the family. Subsequently, the District Collector directed the Public Works Department Executive Engineer to assess the value of the house and submit a report. But with further action delayed, the family has now approached the court.

Baby said the house became clearly unsafe after the service road next to it began cracking and sinking during the last monsoon. Dust from the service road now reaches even the kitchen. As the southern side of the property borders the Mannatta-Madhurampadi road, access from that side is also not possible. The family’s demand is that the authorities should acquire the land, including the house, by providing fair compensation and relieve them from their present hardship.