Mangaluru : Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, Mangaluru MLA UT Khader and Dakshina Kannada DC conducted a survey of houses that are in danger from landslips during monsoon, risking the lives of its residents on Wednesday.

Speaking to presspersons at Kuttar Madaninagara in Ullal taluk on the outskirts of Mangaluru, where four persons of a family died after a revetment wall collapsed on their home, the Minister said that many houses in Dakshina Kannada are built on slopes. Such houses always faced the danger of landslips/compound wall/retaining wall collapses during monsoon. Each gram panchayat in the district should identify such houses and precautionary measures should be taken to prevent loss of lives.

He said that the officials have been instructed to convince residents of such houses to shift to safer locations during monsoon.

Mr. Gowda said some people, who have built houses by cutting hills in sloped areas, haven’t even left space for retaining walls. Their safety is always a matter of concern. Such incidents happen from time to time, yet people continue to build houses by cutting hills steeply. Due to lack of space, this has become unavoidable, but no protective measures are being taken.

Describing Wednesday’s incident as saddening and distressing, he said that the loss of lives has deeply affected the government. “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed his sorrow over the loss of four family members. He personally spoke to me about the incident and instructed me to visit the site. He also directed us to provide all possible assistance to the bereaved family. Furthermore, the Chief Minister emphasised the need to prevent such accidents as much as possible,” he said.

Mr. Gowda said that it was impossible for the family members of Kuttar Madaninagara house to have known that the wall would collapse while they were sleeping, leading to their untimely deaths. “Natural disasters like this are beyond our control. The government will also issue warnings to such houses,” he said.

He said that relief would be provided promptly to the lone survivor of the family.