KASARGOD: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked Kasargod collector D Sajith Babu to explain why houses built for endosulfan survivors in Periya were lying vacant despite being inaugurated four years ago.
The notice was served on a petition filed by Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust which developed the village at Kattumadam near Periya.
The trust built 45 houses, each measuring 500-sq ft on a 10 cent plot, and set up AYUSH hospital, amphitheatre, playground, and community hall in the village at a cost of Rs nine crores in April 2017.
Of the 45 houses, only 22 houses are occupied by beneficiaries. The remaining 23 houses are lying vacant for the past four years, said the trust's founder and executive director KN Anandakumar. "Not allotting the houses to the beneficiaries is a criminal waste of resources," he said.
He said he was forced to approach the SHRC because the collector did not respond to his emails. "Now I will move the high court, too," he said.
The housing project was initiated when Oommen Chandy was the chief minister. "We took up the project after the government assured us that the beneficiaries were identified," Anandakumar said.
He said the Pullur-Periya panchayat's former president Sharada Nair has sent him the list of 30 beneficiaries for the 23 houses. "So it is not that no endosulfan survivor wants a house and 10 cents of land," he said.
In the first phase, 36 houses were built and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan handed over the keys of 22 houses to beneficiaries in 2017.
Another nine houses were built in the same year and were inaugurated by the then Governor P Sathasivam. "Even numbers were not allocated to houses handed over by the chief minister. It will just take the collector two minutes," he said.
The unoccupied houses have damaged the reputation of the trust, which raises money from the donors, to implement charity projects, said Anandakumar.
SHRC member VK Beenakumari sent the notice to the collector seeking his reply on why the houses are not allotted to beneficiaries.
Similarly, another 36 houses built by the Joy Alukas Foundation for endosulfan survivors at Perla in Enmakaje panchayat are lying in disuse. The houses were built at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.
The houses have not got road access or power connection.
The houses were built for Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust, which promised to make 108 houses for endosulfan survivors in the district. In both places, the government allotted land for the projects.