The Hindu : Front Page : Cabinet to decide on land grabs at Munnar

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Monday, May 07, 2007
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Cabinet to decide on land grabs at Munnar

Roy Mathew

End to encroachments in tourist resort

ENCROACHED AREAS: A road under construction at the Cardamom Hill Reserves, near Munnar. - Photo: Roy Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The `gold rush' at Munnar is coming to a halt. The Government is set to initiate stringent action against the encroachers following completion of the inquiry by Principal Secretary (Revenue) Nivedita P. Haran.

The suspension of revenue officials and filing of criminal charges against encroachers have already begun. The Cabinet meeting on Wednesday may be deciding on further steps for demolishing the encroachments and for resumption of the encroached lands.

It is estimated that Munnar and its surrounding areas including Chinnakanal and Pallivasal villages have about 3,600 resorts. At least half of them are in the Cardamom Hill Reserves or in revenue `poramboke' land.

Role of officials

In a large number of cases, officials have assigned them to people in an irregular manner. The other cases are outright encroachments though they also claim to have titles.

The process of large-scale encroachments started more than 15 years ago. Some village officers and tahsildars have connived with encroachers to issue the holders title deeds under their official signature and seals.

(In some cases, the officials themselves took the lead to `grant' the pattayas for a consideration. In one case, the titles issued by a tahsildar operating from a lodge in 1993 are known as Vrindavan pattayas after the name of the lodge. There are also titles known after the names of the officials concerned.)

Records destructed

This as well as the destruction of original revenue records make it difficult to differentiate actual titleholders from encroachers. However, visitors can see that many of the resorts are inside the Cardamom Hill Reserves or on brook or road porambokes.

As cardamom reserves are leased government land intended only for the cultivation of cardamom, the Government can cancel the titles and resume the land.

In the case of poramboke land, the matter may be a little trickier as fraud in assignment of the land may have to be established. Though there is a ban on construction on banks of streams, the previous Government issued orders permitting assignment of such land to settlers.

Much of the encroached areas are ecologically sensitive and aesthetically and geomorphologically important. Unstable slopes with high gradients have also been encroached upon and roads constructed for connectivity to the main thoroughfares. This may lead to landslips. The Government can take over these lands under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act.

The encroachers had been encouraged by the support of officials and politicians and the high returns from the tourism business. Most of the resorts fetch Rs.1,000 to Rs.3,000 per room and tourists arrive throughout the year at Munnar unlike in places like Kodaikanal.

Consequently, land prices have skyrocketed here where hardly any legally held land is available for sale.

This resulted in some land sharks and builders entering the scene. In some cases, original settlers of the cardamom estates had been forced to move out with the aid of politicians. These include some very poor people as well as fairly well off settlers. With the change in Government, some CITU leaders put pressure on early encroachers in areas such as Pothamedu to move out in favour of big operators. This was one reason why friction developed between the UDF and the CPI(M) at Munnar. With the entry of builders with financial muscle, the construction of long roads and elaborate constructions began.

Several methods

Several methods had been adopted by the encroachers to secure documents showing ownership of the land. The new buyers often have a registered sale deed in their support. In some cases, documents for land had been obtained quoting survey numbers of land lying elsewhere. This is subsequently corrected with official connivance. The Pallivasal panchayat, for example, admitted that it had given a licence for a mobile tower in the panchayat. But it maintained that the tower had actually come up on encroached land elsewhere.

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