THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy has urged the Chief Minister and the Government to take urgent steps to check land grab in Munnar town and the surrounding areas.

In an open letter to the Chief Minister, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran and Forest Minister Benoy Viswom, released for publication here on Tuesday, the Opposition Leader said a `land mafia' was at work in Munnar and the people were watching what steps the Government was taking to check their activities and retrieve precious Government land.

Several instances

Mr. Chandy said several instances of encroachment on Government land had come to his notice when he visited Munnar along with a team of UDF leaders on April 20. United Democratic Front (UDF) convener P.P. Thankachan, Idukki DCC president P.T. Thomas, Roshy Augustine, MLA, and several other leaders were with Mr. Chandy during the visit.

Among the alleged irregular assignments that came to notice was one in the Kannan Devan Hill Village where 12 acre of land was assigned to one M.M. Lambodaran.

He had, in turn, given the land on a 30-year lease for erecting a mobile phone company's tower.

There were many other instances of land grab in the locality, mostly of road and canal `puramboke' land, the Leader of the Opposition said.

Mr. Chandy said there were also several cases of encroachments on land owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board, the Kerala Water Authority and the Public Works Department.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to study the report submitted by Additional Director General of Police Rajan Medhekar on the issue.

Money power

He also cited an instance of a private estate being encroached on by certain persons using `money power and muscle power.' The encroachers were acting with the full support of the local officials, he said. The people in the locality, Mr. Chandy said, told him that the encroachers were intimidating the estate managements.

He said there were many instances of unauthorised constructions in the area, unauthorised quarries, large-scale felling of trees and illegal road construction.

Hundreds of illegal tourist resorts were coming up. If there stern action is not taken, the unlimited tourism potential of Munnar and its fragile ecosystem would be under threat, Mr. Chandy said.

The Government should immediately evict all encroachers, initiate action against officials who abet encroachers and put an end to all unauthorised constructions in the area. It is the will of the Government to act decisively and impartially that is at stake, Mr. Chandy said.

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