Kochi: Nearly a year after the devastating Chooralmala landslides in Wayanad, 43-year-old Anil Kumar continues his desperate plea to authorities—to bring together his mother’s dismembered remains buried in two separate spots.
Anil lost his mother Rajamma (63), along with 10 other family members, in the catastrophic July 2024 landslide. Rajamma’s body, disfigured and unrecognisable, was found in two parts ten days apart. DNA testing confirmed her identity. The remains were buried roughly 20 metres apart at a graveyard in Puthumala.
“This is not what she wanted,” said Anil, recalling how Rajamma—who had survived landslides in 1984 and 2019—would often voice her fears about dying in a landslide, her body torn apart. “She would always say, ‘Bury me in one place’. That was her only wish.”
A former jeep driver now left unemployed after the disaster, Anil said his requests to Wayanad district authorities began 10 days after the burial last year. Despite submitting reminders and even writing to MLA T Siddique, no action has been taken. “Officials promised to call back. They didn’t. I begged them to act before this monsoon,” he said.
What troubles him further is that at least four other families have been granted similar permissions to reunite their loved ones’ remains. “Why is my case still pending?” Anil asks, devastated.