Families affected by the blast at the illegal firecracker storage unit at Choorakkadu in Thripunithura are unlikely to get substantial damages from the State government going by the precedents.
The engineering division of the municipality has wrapped up the inspection of 329 households affected in varying degrees in the blast and has submitted the report to the village officer concerned who will forward it to the tahsildar. The district administration will submit the report before the government.
“We have drawn up the report in a specific pro forma giving the extent of damage in percentage terms. As per our inspection, we found only two houses to be fully damaged and six to seven houses with over 50% damage. The majority of households were found to have damage like broken doors and windows or shattered glasses. How the estimates will be drawn up and damages will be paid is up to the Revenue department,” said municipal sources.
However, compensation from the government is unlikely to match the expectations of the affected families going by the precedents and even more so in the light of the prevailing financial crisis of the government. It also remains to be seen how many of the 300-odd families will get any compensation at all.
During his visit to the blast site and affected households on Monday, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve said compensation would be paid as per precedents.
Revenue department sources said that even during the 2018 deluge, the biggest catastrophe to be faced by the State in over a century, the average compensation paid for the badly affected houses and properties was in the range of ₹1.50 lakh to ₹2 lakh. Even in the case of a fully damaged house, the compensation at best may not exceed ₹4 lakh.
The Revenue department and the municipality feel that a more feasible solution would be for the temple committee and the Karayogam to dole out the compensation. It is learnt that the Vadakkumpuram Karayogam, which owns the plot on which the illegal firecracker storage unit functioned, has been approaching affected families with the promise of just compensation to dissuade them from taking the legal recourse. That seems to be having the desired impact, considering that the action council formed predominantly with the objective of launching a legal fight for due compensation is yet to approach the High Court as was initially announced.
Affected families were also irate about not receiving any immediate relief. “Authorities could have at least distributed emergency relief using the disaster management fund,” said Ajith Kumar, a member of the executive committee of the action council.
Meanwhile, the Hill Palace police on Tuesday took all the 11 accused in the two cases registered in connection with the blast and the unauthorised fireworks display at Puthiyakavu Devi Temple to the temple and the blast site for evidence collection.
