Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Jul 6: Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary on Monday July 6 handed over cheques amounting to five lac rupees each to the kin of two children who lost their lives on Sunday July 5.
The ex-gratia amount was announced by chief minister B S Yediyurappa hours after the tragedy. The CM had expressed condolences and tweeted about the incident, informing that the families who were at risk at Banglagudde would get new homes soon. Several families were shifted soon after the incident.
MLA Umanath Kotian, deputy commissioner SIndhu B Rupesh and others were present.
Safwan(16) and Sahala (10), children of Sharif and Shahida, died in the tragedy. A relative of the couple said that the two children were about to return to their native place. The relative in question, Muhammed Ashraf, said he was sad that the children would have survived if they had returned to their home as per original plan.
The children had come to their relative's home at Banglegudde as they have school holidays. Their father, Sharif, and mother, Shahida, too were staying here. Sharif's family had prepared to go back to their home at 10 am on Sunday but Sharif left alone, telling his family members that he would like to visit Gurpur Muloor Tarikakriya to see for himself the current state of their house as there was heavy rain all these days. If the family had left with him, the two lives would have been spared, Asraf rued.
The house owner had, on Saturday, filed a request with the revenue officials, seeking to build a protective wall by the side of his house as the hillock faced the prospect of suffering landslides during the monsoon months. The revenue officials were taking steps to act on the request, when tragedy struck.
Assistant deputy commissioner, M J Roopa, said that the tahsildar had issued notice in the past about the fact that this area is danger prone. She said that in view of the corona pandemic, it is necessary to keep these families separately. She also added that available schools, halls, hostel buildings etc will be utilized now and a permanent solution will be worked out shortly.
As many as 118 members of the affected families have now been accommodated in government school, hostel, and gram panchayat rooms. The work of rehabilitating 60 more families is in progress.
MP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, has ordered for shifting 60 families from the area facing danger of landslip elsewhere and to disburse suitable compensation to the affected people. Chief minister Yediyurappa has also asked the district administration to shift 19 families elsewhere and to provide them new houses in another village. Survey No 102 of Bodanthila village has been identified for the purpose, it is learnt.