Kerala - Kochi   

Mulavukad residents seek meeting of GIDA

KOCHI: The Islanders of Mulavukad are planning to approach the members of the Goshree Island Development Authority (GIDA) with a request to convene the general council of the GIDA immediately.

Over the last two years, the GIDA has met only thrice thus putting the pressing needs of the islanders on the backburner, said Majeed Hussain, chairman of the Development Standing committee of the Mulavukad Panchayat. The Islanders are on a warpath demanding the intervention of the Government and the district administration on issues that are hampering the development process. They have also embarked on a relay hunger strike before the GIDA office.

The Mulavukad Road Development Action Committee had met the Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Saturday and submitted a representation in this regard.

The road development scheme for the Island has hit a road block following the stand adopted by the authorities that compensation will not be given to the land owners who own more than 10 cents and whose land have to be acquired for the project. The issue of giving compensation to these landowners will have to be included in the agenda of the General Council, said Mr. Hussain.

The road project is to expand the existing road that runs through the Island into a 7-metre-wide one.

With the land price skyrocketing in the Island, a section of the landowners has refused to part with their holdings demanding compensation for the land. Of the 720 landowners who are to submit their holdings for the road project, 540 have agreed to part with their land, he said.The District Collector Dr. M. Beena, who visited the Island the other day, has agreed to hold a special adalat on the Island on September to clear the files regarding the land acquisition that are pending with the Authority. The case of 220 landowners who have submitted their willingness to surrender the land is pending with the Authority.

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