Shanmuganathan at the site at Pettimudy, Idukki, where he lost his two sons in a major landslip.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
Seventy lives were lost in a devastating landslip at Pettimudy, near Munnar, on August 6, 2020. Ahead of the third anniversary of the disaster, which falls on Sunday, death certificates of missing persons were finally handed over to their relatives.
In the landslip at the Kannan Devan Hill Plantation (KDHP), estate layams (cluster homes) lay buried and 66 people lost their lives. Four people were reported missing.
The rescue works that continued over 16 days could not trace the bodies of Dineshkumar, 22; Kasthuri, 26; Priyadarshini, 7; and Karthika, 21. The bodies remain untraced, but the government distributed compensation to the families of those missing.
Normal procedure
Munnar panchayat secretary K.N. Sahajan said the panchayat recently completed the process of registering the deaths of the missing people. “Normally death certificates are issued for missing people after seven years. To complete the registration process a First Information Report (FIR) should be registered and a court order is required,” said the official.
“In the case of Pettimudy, the government issued a special order, declaring the ‘civil death’ of the missing persons. After a long process, the panchayat and revenue officials issued death certificates for the relatives recently,” said Mr. Sahajan.
His undying hope
Shanmuganathan, a resident of Munnar, lost his two sons, Dineshkumar, 22, and Nitishkumar, 20. The youths had come to Pettimudy to attend a birthday celebration. The body of Dineshkumar has not been recovered so far.
“The panchayat handed over the death certificate of my son Dineshkumar recently. My family members will visit the landslip site on Sunday and offer prayers,” said Mr. Shanmuganathan.
He had hit headlines after conducting a lone search for over six months to find his son. He used to travel 23 kilometres daily from Munnar to Pettimudy, hoping to find his son. He did not conduct the 41-day rituals of the missing son.
According to local people, the victims’ relatives, including those living in Tamil Nadu, plan to reach the cemetery and conduct prayers on Sunday at the burial site constructed by the KDHP.