Kerala - Alappuzha   

Reforms sabotaged: Sudheeran

ALAPPUZHA: Vested interests in the State government are trying to sabotage the Left Democratic Front’s attempts at land reforms, V.M. Sudheeran, senior Congress leader, said here on Saturday.

Inaugurating the second phase of an agitation by the Congress demanding takeover of over 60 hectares of surplus land sold illegally by the Kuttamangalam Service Cooperative Bank in R Block of Kuttanad, Mr. Sudheeran said the statements of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan against the land mafia were being negated by actions of the government.

The latest example was the “knee-jerk reaction” of it to the R Block issue, in which the only punitive action taken, even after government inquiries had revealed irregularities in the sale of land, was to dismiss the cooperative bank’s ruling committee. No steps were taken to restore the land to farmers from whom the bank seized the land before selling it.

He said the government should initiate prosecution procedures against the guilty. The promises to make R Block a model village were yet to be fulfilled. A comprehensive project to provide infrastructure to better lives of farmers had to be prepared.

Mr. Sudheeran alleged that the Chief Minister was feigning ignorance and adopting an indifferent attitude when members of his own party cheated farmers.

“The R-Block issue, in fact, has tarnished the pro-poor, pro-farmer image of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and will remain a permanent black chapter in that party’s history,” Mr. Sudheeran said.

He hit out against Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran, saying that the latter could not shirk responsibility in the R-Block issue, particularly because he represented the area in the Assembly. It was up to the Chief Minister and Mr. Sudhakaran to keep the ruling front’s credibility by acting strongly against the culprits and restoring the land to the farmers.

Alappuzha MLA K.C. Venugopal and District Congress Committee president A.A. Shukoor spoke.

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