Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Panel focuses on threat to wetlands

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Participants in a meeting organised by the Select Committee of the Assembly here on Wednesday to discuss the Kerala Paddy Field and Wetland Conservation Bill 2007 highlighted the failure of the administration to check the conversion of wetlands all over the district for real estate development and construction of buildings.

The meeting observed that large tracts of fields were being reclaimed every day, playing havoc with the environmental equilibrium of the region. The paddy fields in Chirayinkeezh taluk, the Vellayani freshwater lake and the adjoining wetlands were identified as the most vulnerable. Revenue and police officials were accused of turning a blind eye to the illegal reclamation.

A majority of the participants pointed out that builders and real estate developers were in a race to buy up land before the Bill becomes an Act. They stressed the need to enact the law with a retrospective effect of one year. This, they observed, would help reconvert the reclaimed lands and restore the environmental equilibrium. They also called for stern action against individuals and companies responsible for reclamation of paddy fields.

Several speakers called on the government to recognise the Chirayinkeezh and Vellayani areas in Thiruvananthapuram as paddy-farming regions. General secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha G.S. Venugopalan Nair called for recognising the Paddy Board and Krishi Bhavans as regional agencies for implementation of the Act. He urged the government to ensure that banana and vegetable farmers in the district were not victimised for converting paddy fields.

President of the Kerala Karshaka Thozhilali Congress (S) Uzhamalakkal Venugopal noted that large tracts of paddy fields in the district had already been filled up for constructing houses and apartment complexes. NCP Karshaka Congress leader Divakaran said the only way to check reclamation of paddy fields was to ensure remunerative price for the crop produced by farmers. Karshaka Thozhilali Sanghatana leader Murali stressed the need to set up village-level people’s committees to identify and report reclamation of wetlands and fields. Participants said reclamation and sand-mining were posing a serious threat to the Vellayani freshwater lake.

Rounding off the discussion, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran who heads the Select Committee said the government would do everything possible to protect the lake. He said a high-level meeting involving Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran, Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran, Law Minister M.Vijayakumar, district panchayat president Anavoor Nagappan and senior officials would be convened next week to formulate a strategy to identify and avert the threats.

MLAs P. Raghavan, Kadannapally Ramachandran, K.P. Padmanabhan, K. Babu, V. Sivankutty, Thomas Chazhikkadan, N. Rajan, T.U. Kuruvila and Mangode Radhakrishnan and District Collector N. Ayyappan were among those who attended the meeting.

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