A septuagenarian from Kollam is funding the making of 100 cots for families in landslide-hit Wayanad

KA Abdul Azeez from Kollam district is using all his savings to fund the making of 100 cots for the people in Wayanad who lost everything in landslides

Wayanad in Kerala is still reeling from the aftermath of landslides that wiped away villages killing hundreds. Help in the form of cash and kind have been pouring in to help the people rebuild their lives.

Among them is septuagenarian KA Abdul Azeez, a former government employee from Pathanapuram in Kollam district. Azeez is using his savings to donate 100 cots to the houses that will be constructed for those who have been left homeless.

While in Thiruvananthapuram for a felicitation meeting organised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Azeez says, “This is the least I could do for the people there.”

Instead of buying them from the market, Azeez is getting them made at a furniture unit near his home. “We have known him for years and when he shared this thought with us we were happy to help. It is such a large-hearted initiative and this is our way of contributing to the cause. The work has started and the cots are expected to be ready in under two months,” says Brijith KV or Binu as he is known, who heads the furniture unit.

The cost of a cot (six by four feet) would come to around ₹8,500, inclusive of labour charges. Acacia wood is mainly used to make them and around six labourers of the unit are at work.

Azeez, who retired from the Department of Health in 2005, says the decision to give away the cots was instinctive. “Help is coming from different quarters and I also wanted to do something. When Rahul Gandhi announced that he would construct 100 houses in Wayanad, I thought that I could provide cots for those houses. I did not want to buy them from the market and that’s why I contacted Binu,” he says.

They plan to transport the cots around the time new houses are built. “After some news channels and online media platforms carried this news, a well-wisher from Saudi Arabia called me up and said the cots would be transported in his trucks to Wayanad free of cost. Before transporting the cots, we will visit Wayanad to see how many families actually need those,” he says.