Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

MCH development: 600 families face uncertain future

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 18. As many as 600 families in the Medical College ward in the city have been living in uncertainty for the past three decades as they do not have the right to develop their houses or transact their property.

The Government had earmarked 150 acres for the Medical College area development scheme to develop the college and the hospital. The Government had issued orders in 1974 freezing the land. Repeated requests by the local people as well as the Thiruvananthapuram North MLA, K. Mohan Kumar, either to expedite the scheme or to lift the freeze failed to yield any result. There is no drainage or streetlight in the area. But the corporation is levying tax. Most of the residents have only small plots of land. They cannot develop their houses, transfer the property to their children or pledge it to avail themselves of a loan for their higher studies.

The local people allege that the Government had granted exemption for the construction of hotels in the frozen land, but the requests of the residents to lift the freeze were being mercilessly rejected. "I had repeatedly raised the issue in the Assembly and the Government had assured that 50 acres would be acquired and steps were being taken to give compensation to the people whose land has been acquired. The Government had also said that there were plans to provide super-speciality facilities in the hospital and return the remaining land to the owners only after completing the development process," Mr. Mohan Kumar said. The Transport Minister, R. Balakrishna Pillai, had given the MLA an assurance that a bus station would be set up in the area. The Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority (TRIDA) had agreed to include the scheme in the Capital Region Development Scheme, he said.

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