Landslide victims of Taliye yet to get houses from government

In the torrential rains on July 22, 2021, 89 villagers of Taliye lost their lives on account of a landslide in the Kondalkarwadi and Boudhawadi areas. Five more hamlets also had to be relocated along with these two, as they were on the fault line and could have faced landslides later

Mumbai: After the landslide at Irshalwadi near Khalapur on Thursday buried almost the entire tribal hamlet, chief minister Eknath Shinde announced that the villagers would be rehabilitated by the government. However, the residents of Mahad’s Taliye village in Raigad, who faced a similar disaster exactly two years ago, are yet to get their houses despite a promise from the government that they would be given these in one year.

At present, 25 families of Taliye village are living in 25 containers which were transported from Mumbai as temporary accommodation. One container is being used as a school. The district official said that other families had moved to Mahad, Mumbai and Surat. (Hindustan Times)

In the torrential rains on July 22, 2021, 89 villagers of Taliye lost their lives on account of a landslide in the Kondalkarwadi and Boudhawadi areas. Five more hamlets also had to be relocated along with these two, as they were on the fault line and could have faced landslides later.

Soon after the landslide, the then housing minister Jitendra Awhad had announced that MHADA would construct houses for the villagers. “We had been given the task of constructing 271 houses, of which 66 were to be given in the first lot,” said a senior district official of Raigad. “The work on the first lot is being finalised. The district administration acquired the land within two months of the incident at a cost of ₹2.92 crore and handed over the 17-hectare plot to MHADA. They were to complete the work in nine months, as each house of 627 square feet was to be built with prefab material.”

At present, 25 families of Taliye village are living in 25 containers which were transported from Mumbai as temporary accommodation. One container is being used as a school. The district official said that other families had moved to Mahad, Mumbai and Surat.

Sampat Tandalekar, former sarpanch of Taliye village, said that the villagers had been given toilet blocks as well. “But we are yet to get a water connection,” he said. “In summer, the heat in these container houses is unbearable. The government says it has completed work on 66 houses, but a lot of finishing work remains.”

Konkan divisional commissioner Mahendra Kalyankar said the first batch of houses at Taliye was ready and would be handed over to the villagers soon. Added Maroti More, chief officer of the Konkan board of MHADA, “Sixty-six houses can be delivered soon. Work is happening on the rest of the houses. It is very difficult to carry raw material to the site, as trucks cannot access the place.”