Kerala - Alappuzha   

Select Committee to hold special sitting

ALAPPUZHA: The State Assembly’s Select Committee has decided to hold a special sitting and public hearing for the Kuttanad region. The Kerala Conservation of Paddy Fields and Wetlands Bill 2007 was referred to the committee.

The first sitting in Alappuzha district was held on Thursday. Public representatives, farmers, agriculture scientists and experts, among others, took part in the sitting.

The second one will focus on the features of Kuttanad and take into consideration the suggestions recorded in the M.S. Swaminathan Commission’s report on Kuttanad, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran said.

Mr. Rajendran said the Alappuzha sitting was the second that the committee held after the Bill was presented in the Assembly on September 19.

The first such sitting for the districts began in Thrissur and the same procedure would be conducted in all districts. “We intend to complete the sittings by January 4 and give the Bill a final shape before the Budget Session begins,” he said.

The Minister said the Bill sought to regulate illegal and widespread reclamation of paddy fields and other wetlands, indiscriminate mining from the paddy fields.

Steps would also be taken to improve the ecological condition of the State, he added.

As per the latest official estimates, the State has a mere 2.76 lakh hectares of paddy field and the remaining land is in danger of being misused.

The Minister said the government and the Select Committee had received reports that attempts were on to reclaim and fill up paddy fields before the Bill came into existence. He said the laws to protect these areas would be enforced strictly.

The District Collectors had been issued directives not to entertain applications for paddy field reclamation as well as refrain from acting on such applications that they had received till the Bill was passed, Mr. Rajendran said. “The issue will be discussed during the Collectors’ Conference,” he said.

On the government’s intention to ‘reclaim’ paddy fields and wetlands that had been encroached upon or filled up, Mr. Rajendran said the government would do its best to take the legal recourse.

He added that if the government was unable to reclaim the lost land, it would contemplate imposing heavy tax on those who possessed such lands.

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