The death toll in the landslide that occurred on August 6 at Pettimudi hamlet in Rajamala ward under Munnar panchayat in Kerala’s Idukki district, has now risen to 52 with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel retrieving three more bodies from a nearby stream today (Aug 11) morning.

Searches efforts are on to locate 19 more persons who went missing after a settlement of workers from Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company (P) Ltd was devastated by rocks, slurry and sludge that came crashing down after a landslide.

According to official estimates, 83 people were living in 30 single-room, sheet-roofed quarters, provided by the estate. 12 of them were rescued by residents of nearby settlement.

Two teams comprising 50 NDRF personnel along with fire and rescue services department, police and forest department are working round the clock to search for the missing residents of the tea estate.

Most of the people who died or went missing in the landslide hail from Tamil Nadu. They had migrated to Pettimuti from the Kayathar region in Tuticorin district in Tamil Nadu several years ago. Due to severe drought and famine in their native place, they could not find jobs as farmhands causing their exodus to the tea estates of Munnar.

Meanwhile the Tamizh Desiya Periyakkam (TDP) has requested Kerala Government not to differentiate between victims of the Kozhikode air crash and landslide when it comes to the payment of solatium amount.

P. Maniarasan, president of TDP said that while Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced ₹10 lakh as compensation for the families of the deceased in the Kozhikode air crash, on the other hand the state has announced only ₹5 lakh as compensation for the family of the deceased in the Munnar landslide.

Maniarasan also said that the bodies of 27 persons retrieved from the debris on August 8 were dumped in a huge pit and interred by the officials though the relatives of the deceased pleaded for a decent burial.

Maniarasan demanded a compensation of ₹25 lakh for the families of the workers killed in the landslide. Pointing out that nearly 90% of the workers in the tea estates in Idukki district hailed from Tamil Nadu, it urged the Kerala government to ensure the safety of these Tamil workers without fail.

Tamil Workers

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