THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC) president P.T. Thomas alleged here on Wednesday that the CPI(M) State leadership had intervened to slow down the ongoing eviction drive in Munnar.

Addressing a press conference, he said Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's visit to Munnar the other day was followed by a perceptible change in the tempo of the eviction process. According to him, the strategy of the CPI(M) leadership was to provide sufficient time for the big resort owners to gain court stay orders against eviction. He wondered why the Advocate-General was desisting from appearing in cases seeking stay orders against the eviction, in spite of a definite Government order asking him to personally attend to such cases.

The special team for handling the eviction process had, reportedly, informed the Government that it could not proceed with its work ignoring the encroachments in which CPI(M) leaders were directly involved, Mr. Thomas said. Even the "office-cum-resorts" of the CPI(M) and the CPI in Munnar were on encroached land, he alleged.

Mr. Thomas said he did not mean to say that people from the United Democratic Front were not involved in the encroachments.

However, leaders or co-travellers of the Left Democratic Front accounted for 99 per cent of the encroachers, he alleged.

An extent of nearly 25 acres (10 hectares) of land in Munnar belonging to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Public Works Department was now with the encroachers. Devikulam MLA S. Rajendran's name had figured in the list of encroachers in KSEB land in a report submitted to the institution by its officers earlier, he said.

But, now the effort was to exempt him from the list, Mr. Thomas alleged.

He said that in Chinnakanal village near Munnar, more than 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) was being held by private individuals on the strength of fake documents. An inquiry in January this year had specifically pointed out the massive nature of the encroachment operation in this village, he said.

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