Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

UDF members launch fast

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Five Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) members began an indefinite fast in the foyer of the Assembly on Monday demanding a comprehensive inquiry into the Ponmudi land deal and the resignation of Forest Minister Benoy Viswom over the issue.

The members who began the fast on behalf of the UDF are Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (Congress), Joseph M. Puthussery (KC-M), U.C. Raman (IUML), K.B. Ganesh Kumar (KC-B) and K.K. Shaju (JSS). The House is scheduled to meet till Thursday.

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy announced the fast at the end of zero hour after Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, replying to a submission by Mr. Chandy, sought to blame the UDF for the irregular land deals and announced that the Government had initiated steps to retrieve all the land that had thus got alienated.

Mr. Chandy said the Chief Minister’s statement was not acceptable to the Opposition, as it was meant only to shield the Forest Minister. The Opposition, he said, had nothing against the Government inquiring into any failure on the part of the UDF Government in connection with the land deal. The Opposition would be satisfied only with a comprehensive inquiry, he later told a news conference outside the House.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the Government would consider bringing forward amendments to the Kerala Forests (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Lands) Act of 2003, which had received Presidential assent in 2005, to restore the provisions of the Ordinance on ecologically fragile lands issued by the LDF Government in 2000 to prevent transfer of ownership of such land.

Earlier, the Forest Minister also informed the House that the Government had frozen the transaction of a portion of the Merchiston Estate to ISRO by a private individual.

The Opposition leader demanded to know how the UDF Government could have facilitated large-scale transaction in estate lands as alleged by the Chief Minister in the House recently when the rules under the 2000 Act had not been notified till it vacated office.

The UDF had effected changes in the Ordinance exempting coconut, arecanut, pepper and tea plantations from the ambit of the 2003 Act only to help genuine farmers, he said.

He also reiterated that the Forest Department had given clearance for felling of trees in the estate land for constructing the helipad in Merchiston Estate.

Mr. Achuthanandan accused the UDF Government of having delayed notification of the rules under the 2003 Act to enable big players to corner large tracts of land. The LDF Government had not done the same. It had begun work on the rules immediately on assuming office and had issued the relevant rules on February 3 last fully in accordance with the provisions of the 2003 Act, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

It had also constituted an Advisory Committee and four Tribunals headed by district judges under the provisions of the Act.

The UDF Government had not only delayed preparation of the rules, but had also reduced the stamp duty on land transactions from 10 per cent to 4 per cent and restored it to 10 per cent once the transaction was over on March 30, 2005, he said.

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