Minister-level meeting seeks report on relocation, rehabilitation plans for P&T Colony residents from Ernakulam Collector

KOCHI A high-level meeting chaired by Minister for Local Self-Government K.M. Shaji in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday sought a report from the Ernakulam District Collector on the temporary relocation of 78 families of P&T Apartment Complex at Mundamveli and the feasibility of potential permanent rehabilitation packages. District Collector G. Priyanka has been asked to submit the report within a fortnight.

The indefinite stir by the families, demanding permanent rehabilitation citing the pitiable condition of the apartments, has crossed 100 days. A Minister-level meeting had been one of the key demands raised by the P&T Apartment Complex Protest Committee. Kochi MLA Mohammed Shiyas had submitted a memorandum to the Minister outlining three possible rehabilitation packages. “A new housing project, a one-time financial assistance package for the affected residents similar to the one offered by the Kochi Corporation to the evictees of the Konthuruthy puramboke, and government financial support for the housing project.

The permanent rehabilitation will be preceded by temporary relocation, for which the government will bear the rent,” he said. The meeting also considered the four-point proposal submitted by the District Collector to the Local Self-Government department (LSGD) Principal Secretary, recommending that the twin towers be repurposed for alternative uses, including as government offices.

“The LSGD engineering wing has been asked to inspect the apartments and verify whether they can be used for office purposes, as suggested by the District Collector,” said Abhilash P. Parameswaran, president of the protest committee. The committee said the decisions came as a major relief to the families who have been on an indefinite stir for the last 112 days. “This is a message that the well-being of people cannot be ignored.

Hopefully, there will be proper follow-up to these decisions, and the families will be relocated without any further delay,” Mr. Parameswaran said. The State government had announced a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) probe into the alleged irregularities in the construction of the apartment complex, following which a VACB team visited the site as part of a preliminary inquiry on October 5.

The Greater Cochin Development Authority had constructed the complex, comprising two four-storey towers, at an estimated cost of ₹14.62 crore to rehabilitate 77 families from the now-demolished, flood-prone P&T Colony in the Gandhi Nagar division of the Kochi Corporation. The project was jointly funded under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, LIFE Mission and Cochin Smart Mission Limited.