Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Irregular land deals to be curbed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said in the Assembly on Tuesday that a Cabinet sub-committee would soon decide on measures needed to check the land mafia.

Replying to a debate on the demand for grants for heads of States, ministers and headquarters staffs, the Chief Minister said that the sub-committee was working on legislation to prevent irregular land transactions. The Ministers in charge of Revenue, Home and Registration were members of the subcommittee.

Mr. Achuthanandan said that the land purchased by Blue Star realtors from HMT in Kochi had not been taken over by the government as a case was pending before the High Court on the sale.

He said that the land belonging to InfoPark in Kochi was allocated to three private companies on terms similar to the SmartCity project. The government would have equity ranging from five to 15 per cent in the companies implementing the projects. There were also stipulations regarding creation of jobs.

Replying to questions from Opposition leader Oommen Chandy, Mr. Achuthanandan said that the Kottiyam sex-racket case would be investigated properly. The Kiliroor case had been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation and he had sought the appointment of a senior officer to probe the case.

Responding to a question from Mr. Chandy whether he could provide details of the encroachers from whom the government claimed to have taken over 15,000 acres of land at Munnar and elsewhere, the Chief Minister said that the details would be furnished in a month.

Mr. Achuthanandan disputed the statement of the Opposition leader that the number of appointments made through the Public Service Commission (PSC) during the last two years was lower than those made when Mr. Chandy was the Chief Minister. After the present government came to power, 50,900 persons had been appointed through the PSC and 24,305 persons through the employment exchanges.

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