Families told to vacate houses for the disabled

UDHAGAMANDALAM: The Kodanad panchayat in Kotagiri taluk of Nilgiris district has ordered 36 non-disabled families to vacate the houses meant for the differently-abled within 15 days. The erstwhile DMK government had allowed these families to occupy the houses, constructed for the differently-abled at Priya Nagar Kerada Mattam in Kodanad  panchayat 10 years ago. These 93 houses were constructed under a special scheme during the tenure of Supriya Sahu as Collector of Nilgiris. As on date, only 25 differently-abled families are living in them, while 36 houses have been occupied by non-disabled families for the past five to six years. Of the remaining 32, 22 houses are vacant. The people, who gathered at the Collectorate, on Monday, said “The previous government asked us to live in the vacant houses. All of a sudden, we have been asked us to vacate. We are ready to go, but need an alternative place to stay.”