Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will lay the foundation stone for 50 houses, being constructed by Congress for victims of the Wayanad landslides, on Thursday at Kunnambetta in Meppadi panchayat. Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi will also be present on the occasion.
During the event, a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each will be provided to 40 shop owners from Chooralmala and Mundakkai who did not receive government aid. The traders had met Priyanka Gandhi and apprised her of their difficulties, following which the assistance was arranged.
The Congress is planning to construct a total of one hundred houses in around five acres of land at Meppadi. In the first phase, 50 houses would be constructed within six months, said Congress leaders. The beneficiaries will be the people who were excluded by the government due to technical reasons.
Each house will have approximately 1,100 square feet plinth area , built on eight cents of land, and designed with three bedrooms. The project is funded by the KPCC with support from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and public donations. This is the realization of the assurance given by Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the disaster area, said Kalpetta MLA T Siddique in his Facebook post on Wednesday.
A total of around 370 lives were lost in the landslides, of which around 250 bodies were retrieved while around 115 are still missing. Many body parts were recovered in highly-decomposed condition from distant locations after being washed away in the Chaliyar river.
Rahul Gandhi, who is scheduled to arrive at Kannur airport on Thursday morning, will attend a farmers’ meeting in Peravoor in Kannur district and then proceed to Kalpetta.
Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka will attend a DISHA meeting at the Collectorate in Kalpetta in the morning. She is scheduled to hand over advanced equipment to the Forest Department’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) at the Kalpetta MP office at 1.30 pm on Thursday.