2 min readThiruvanananthapuramApr 28, 2026 05:35 AM IST
Fifty-one families, whose homes were washed away in the 2024 Wayanad landslide tragedy, on Monday moved into new houses built as part of the Indian Union Muslim League’s rehabilitation project.
Images of people belonging to different faiths being ushered into their new homes with their religious rituals went viral online, with many, including social media handles affiliated to IUML ally Congress, calling this the “real Kerala story”.
Of those rehabilitated on Monday, 14 families were from the Hindu community. Lamps were lit and pujas were conducted at their homes as they moved in.
The new houses were built at Muttil in Wayanad. Each 1,060-square-foot, single-storey house is built on eight cents (around 3,485 square feet) of land. As part of the IUML’s project, each house was also furnished, and the families were provided with a grocery kit.
“This is a project in which we have invested our heart,” said IUML state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, while attending a housewarming function at the township.
On March 1, the state government’s township, where 178 families affected by the landslides will get new houses, was inaugurated. But none of the families have moved into those houses as the work remains pending.
The Congress, which is part of the Opposition UDF bloc along with the IUML, had also announced a rehabilitation project, but it is yet to start construction of houses due to paucity of funds.
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The IUML has announced a total of 105 houses on 11.5 acres of land that the party purchased. In the first phase, 51 houses have now been handed over. The keys of the houses were handed over on February 28, but the housewarming function was held on Monday (April 27).
All the houses have three bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining hall, a work area and a sit-out. The houses have courtyards paved with bricks.
IUML legislator P K Basheer, who was the convener of the project, said, “We were worried about the project in its initial days. There had been several controversies, but we were confident about completing the project. A lot of people have helped us in this endeavour. The rest of the houses will be completed by September this year,” he said.
