Only three villages remain to vacate
The Hindu
Doubts linger in the minds of Mallannasagar oustees about compensation
Almost all villages, except three, under Mallannasagar reservoir are getting vacated. The path is being cleared for the biggest reservoir with 50 tmcft under Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). There are eight villages — Erravalli and Singaram in Kondapaka mandal, Etigaddakishtapur, Vemulaghat, Pallepahad, Rampur and Lakshmapur in Toguta mandal — that will be submerged under Mallannasagar. All these villages, at the initial stage, passed unanimous resolutions not to vacate till all payments of compensation were cleared. Despite all these resolutions, one after another village was getting vacated. Even oustees of Pallepahad refused to vacate the village a few days ago. Some families, even after allotment of houses at Mutrajpally Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) colony, kept some belongings at new houses and came back stating that they would not leave the village till all pending payments were cleared. About 75 families remained in the village till Friday. They also vacated the village after officials arranged transport vehicles.
The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











