Kalpetta: The Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS), the lead contractor of the Wayanad Township project for survivors of the Mundakkai–Chooralmala landslide, has completed construction of 178 houses in the first phase.

The organization had earlier completed 140 houses and will hand over the remaining 38 houses today at the township site at Elstone Estate near Kalpetta, according to a press statement.

The houses will be handed over to KIIFCON, the implementing agency of the project under the state government, which will then transfer them to the beneficiaries after completing inspections in their presence. A joint inspection by experts from KIIFCON and ULCCS was already conducted following a controversy over water leakage in some houses. Additional waterproofing work has since been carried out.

So far, only seven houses have been handed over to beneficiaries after completing all procedures.

Although construction of the houses had been completed earlier and keys were distributed to beneficiaries at a large event attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on February 28, ULCCS had clarified that it was not feasible for residents to move in at that time. This was due to incomplete common facilities such as the sewage plant, power supply, water distribution and drainage systems.

ULCCS also noted that residing in the township while thousands of workers were still engaged in construction activities, with heavy vehicle movement and high levels of pollution, would have been unsafe.

However, the entire first-phase work — including water supply, power supply, painting, cleaning, and sewage treatment— has now been completed.

ULCCS has now shifted its focus to the remaining houses in the project, with a target of completing a total of 410 houses. It may be recalled that the LDF government was under fire for its failure in handing over the houses to the beneficiaries to where they can shift. Even now only 7 houses were handed over to the beneficiaries. Those who received the keys after final inspections had informed the ULCCS that they will be shifting only after the completion of all 178 houses and would step in together along with others to the new houses and new life.