P&T residents threaten blockade of ministers as protest enters 100th day

Residents stage a day-long hunger strike in front of the P&T Apartment complex at Mundamveli on October 31, 2026, to mark the 100th day of their protest. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

The P&T Apartment Protest Committee has threatened to intensify its ongoing indefinite agitation by resorting to more aggressive forms of protest, including blocking ministers from entering the Kochi Assembly constituency, accusing the State government of dragging its feet on their demands for rehabilitation.

The committee marked the 100th day of protest by staging a day-long hunger strike in front of the apartment complex at Mundamveli on Saturday (October 31, 2026). Seventy-eight families have been agitating, demanding their immediate rehabilitation, citing the dilapidated condition of the apartments.

“A memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister and the Local Self-Government Minister seeking a direct interaction with the affected families by October 31, but it has been ignored. I tried to meet them but could not. We were expecting Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan to visit us on Saturday when he was scheduled to inaugurate the second phase of the seawall construction at Chellanam,” said protest committee president Abhilash P. Parameswaran. However, Mr. Satheesan did not attend the function.

‘No progress’

He said the living conditions in the apartments were deteriorating with each passing day. The massive overhead concrete water tanks have become increasingly vulnerable. “We have been quite reasonable with the government. We even shifted the venue of our hunger strike from Thoppumpady to the front of our apartment complex since it was on the Chief Minister’s route to Chellanam. But that has not been reciprocated. There has been no progress other than the announcement of a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) investigation into the alleged corruption behind the construction of the apartments, Mr. Parameswaran added.

A VACB team led by DySP P. Rajkumar visited the apartment complex as part of a preliminary inquiry on October 5. The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) had constructed the complex, comprising two four-storey towers, at an estimated cost of over ₹14.62 crore to rehabilitate 77 families from the now-demolished flood-prone P&T Colony in the Gandhi Nagar division of the Kochi Corporation. The project was jointly funded under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, LIFE Mission, and Cochin Smart Mission Limited.

Published - November 01, 2026 07:00 am IST