The Hindu : Kerala News : VS stages sit-in against `land grab'

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Thursday, Jan 27, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

VS stages sit-in against `land grab'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, flanked by CPI(M) leaders, including Varkala Radhakrishnan, MP, staging a satyagraha on a plot of land on the Kovalam beach allegedly fenced off by a hotel management, on Wednesday. Photo: S. Gopaku mar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 26. The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, staged a surprise sit-in on the Kovalam beach here today to protest against alleged land grab by the owners of a private hotel group.

Mr. Achuthanandan, who visited the beach following media reports that the hotel group had encroached into Government land and blocking a pathway that the local people have been using for years, announced his decision to stage the sit-in midway through his inspection of the area. The sit-in, which began around 11 a.m., concluded at 4.30 p.m. with the Opposition leader assuring the local populace that he would be around to lead their struggle in case the hotel group did not heed public opinion and give up their land grab move.

Government flayed

Earlier in the day, Mr. Achuthanandan said the hotel group's attempt to claim ownership of the prime land on the sea front indicated either that the State Government was colluding with them in the land grab or that there was no Government in the State to see that such things did not happen. The hotel group, he alleged, had filled up the land up to the seawall and created a pathway for use for its guests.

The local people were being refrained from using the pathway harming the interests of the fisherfolk, whose access to the sea depended on free mobility to the area.

Even as the Opposition Leader sat in dharna at the site, party activists accompanying him and local people demolished a granite wall erected by the hotel group.

Sets deadline

Although a police party was present on the scene, there was no attempt from the side of the police to forcibly remove the people or create further provocations.

Mr. Achuthanandan called off his sit-in giving the Government a week's time to clear the site or face a more virulent agitation.

He was accompanied to the site of the alleged encroachment and in the dharna by the CPI(M) district secretary, M. Vijayakumar, and other district leaders of the party.

Refutes charge

The A and N Hotel Enterprises Private Limited managing director, John Muthoot, who runs the Taj Green Cove Resort adjacent to the disputed location, said in a press note that the agitation launched by Mr. Achuthanandan and other leaders of the CPI(M) was based on `baseless and untenable' allegations.

"The entire property in question measuring at present about 7.5 acres in Survey No. 449, Thiruvallom Village at Kovalam was legally purchased about 20 years back by A&N Hotel Enterprises (P) Limited from the previous Owners who had legal and valid title over the same, observing all the legal formalities and property documentation as well as registration with the Sub-Registrar's Office at Trivandrum on 10th January 1985. This could be verified with the relevant records at the Sub Registrar's Office by anyone, if so desires. Further, all Taxes have been paid up to date and all relevant records, including the Location Certificates have been obtained from the Revenue Authorities," he said.

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