The Hindu : Uncertainty over land acquisition at Attipra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Uncertainty over land acquisition at Attipra

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 18. The Government move to acquire 270 acres in the Attipra village for the software industry is heading for uncertainty again following the unseemly incident last week when Revenue officials were forced to back off from a land survey in the face of stiff opposition from a section of the local people.

The emergence of a new protest movement under the banner of the Hindu Aikya Vedi has caught the official machinery and local political leaders unawares and threatened to scuttle the terms of the settlement pact which was thrashed out in a Government- sponsored conciliatory meeting last month. With the stage set for a confrontation between rival groups of protestors, the Government is left with little manoeuvring space to settle the issue.

The Action Council and Bhoosamrakshana Samithy, which were spearheading the agitation against the land acquisition, had agreed to call off their protest following the agreement with the Government. They had also undertaken to cooperate with the land survey.

Revenue officials who arrived at Attipra to carry out the survey on February 11 were confronted by a handful of protestors including women who raised slogans against the eviction of families for the project. Alleging a sell-out by the action council, the protestors termed the Government promise to rehabilitate the displaced families as a hoax. As the situation threatened to spin out of control, the officials called off the survey and withdrew from the scene.

With the Kazhakkoottam MLA, M. A. Vaheed, later hinting that the Government might back out of the settlement in the light of the ugly incident, the action council has threatened to renew its agitation. The council avers that it will stand by the terms of the agreement with the Government and the district administration. The Council leader, Attipra Asokan, said that any move by the Government to work out an understanding with the new group of protestors would sabotage the earlier pact.

The district committee of the Hindu Aikya Vedi has alleged that the proposed land survey was an eyewash aimed at hoodwinking 955 families slated to be evicted for the project. Addressing a press conference today, the Vedi district president, Koliyakode Mohan, and other leaders said the local MLA had teamed up with the action council leaders and political parties to mislead the people and force them to part with their land.

Mr. Mohan said the acquisition would lead to the loss of paddy fields and aggravate the water scarcity in the region. Vedi leaders said the Government's reluctance to acquire sparsely populated areas in Eenchakkal, Vallakadavu and Paruthikuzhy exposed its vulnerability to vested interests.

The uncertainty over the fate of the project has again raised a threat to the Government's efforts to market the State capital as an attractive destination for the IT industry. The survey was intended to determine the extent of land required for the project which is primarily aimed at providing a land bank for the IT major, Infosys.

The Collector, K. R. Muraleedharan, denied any move to hold discussions with the new group of protestors. He maintained that the agitation was spurred by a small group of people who were misled on the objectives of the survey. Mr. Muraleedharan said the district administration would go ahead with the survey.

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