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Munnar: CPI(M) launches stir as eviction continues

George Jacob

Additional Secretary convenes department officials' meet on Saturday

MUNNAR: Even as the action against encroachments and illegal constructions resumed on Friday, after a day's lull, the confusion in the local unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) came out in the open, with the local leadership launching an agitation against the authorities calling for action against the `big fishes.'

In the morning, the grama panchayat authorities with the support of the special team started demolition of an unauthorised building near Nallathanni Bridge in the town. Even as the demolition progressed, the CPI(M) activists under the leadership of area committee member K.K. Vijayan and former local committee secretary M. Lakshmanan arrived at the scene demanding suspension of the action till the `big guns' were proceeded against.

However, the demolition squad led by Devikulam Sub-Collector Ratan Kelkar refused to budge. The situation went from bad to worse as the agitating CPI(M) activists launched a sit-in strike at the Nallathanni Bridge bringing the traffic to a standstill.

By noon, local MLA S. Rajendran arrived on the spot and in the talks that followed, the owner of the structure agreed in writing that he himself would demolish the disputed structure within 10 days. The structure had encroached into the puramboke of the Nallathanni rivulet according to the grama panchayat authorities. The Survey Department and the panchayat authorities demarcated the encroached portion for demolition.

In another development, the authorities sealed a five-storeyed building in the heart of the town. In the meantime, the CPI(M) district unit marched to the office of the Devikulam Revenue Divisional Officer. The agitating CPI(M) activists wanted the demolition action to focus on big groups who was engaged in large-scale encroachments. According to them, the present action was focussing only on `lightweight' encroachers.

They wanted the Government to rescind the order suspending registration activities in Devikulam taluk. Normal registration of land should resume immediately, they said. They wanted the Government to give title deeds to all the landless and the economically backward people who have less than five cents of land.

In another development, there was a concerted effort to spread rumours that those living in the colonies would be evicted immediately. The Sub-Collector had asked those living in the colonies to produce the title deeds and other relevant records.

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