Eighteen years after their eviction, 316 families from seven villages in Moolamppilly remain abandoned without rehabilitation, with 41 already dead awaiting justice. File
Having not convened a single meeting of the Moolampilly Package Monitoring Committee (MPMC) in the last nearly six months, officials now say it was never decided to hold monthly meetings – even though minutes of several meetings claimed otherwise – much to the chagrin of families evicted due to the rail and road connectivity of the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal.
The minutes of the MPMC meeting held only on 21 July 2025 suggest holding monthly meetings, while the minutes of another meeting chaired by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in 2011 also suggest the same to review the implementation of the rehabilitation package.
“We have not received any response from the state government to the crucial demands raised in the last meeting, including issuance of eviction cards and jobs for one member of each displaced family. These are matters beyond our jurisdiction and without clarification from the government, the monthly meetings are meaningless,” said a senior official when asked about non-holding of monthly meetings since last August.
The Moolampilly Coordinating Committee (MCC), which continues to lead the fight for rehabilitation and compensation, said the latest meeting on 22 August 2025 was held exactly one month after the previous meeting to dismiss the application as unfounded. It was decided that the Deputy Collector (Land Office) would deputize for the District Collector in view of the Collector’s busy schedule.
“Official apathy is due to the absence of political will. Not even providing minutes of the last meeting held in August is an example of official indifference,” said Francis Kalathungal, MCC convener general.
Eighteen years after their eviction, 316 families from seven villages remain abandoned without rehabilitation, with 41 already dead awaiting justice.
“Photo eviction cards, promised as early as 2018, remain unissued despite MCC submitting a list of beneficiaries. Similarly, our proposal to use dredged soil from the Cochin Port Authority to strengthen rehabilitation plots at Thuthiyoor and Mulavukad was ignored and the soil was instead diverted for national highway work,” said Mr. Kalaungal.
In an interim verdict, the Kerala High Court ordered the rehabilitation plot in Thuthiyoor allotted to 56 families to be filled up and a retaining wall constructed to fortify it. While the retaining wall was built, the backfilling of the soil was unpredictable, meaning that only three families built houses there.
Going further, the High Court in its verdict dated July 4, 2008 ordered that the rehabilitation plots be developed for two-storey houses and till then the beneficiaries be paid a monthly rent of ₹5,000. Both directions are broken. Most of the families could not build houses due to the swampy nature of the land, which was confirmed by the Public Works Department, and rents had stopped being paid years ago.
Published – 08 Feb 2026 07:37 IST