Sources from Thiruvananthapuram stated that Benny Varghese, 49, and his wife Alice, 43, have been living in an asbestos roofed, dimly lit, poorly ventilated room in an old building in Kerala's Idukki district since they escaped a landslide brought on by last August's massive floods and the disaster wrecked their quarter hectare farm.
Alice said "We were lucky to survive boulders that fell down the mountain but they destroyed everything on our land, including our little home built nine years ago with Rs 9 lakh borrowed from a bank and she feels betrayed and we will register our protest in this election." Presently Alice is angry with the Pinarayi Vijayan government for failing to rehabilitate her family even nine months after the worst floods in a century and landslides wreaked havoc in Kerala, killing 483 people and affecting 55 lakh people across 981 villages.
Moreover after considering the enormity of the disaster, it is not surprising that rehabilitation is a major campaign issues this election. Hence this is especially so in the parliamentary constituencies of Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Mavelikkara, which were hit the hardest. Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats and votes in the third phase of the general election on April 23.
