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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Panel may submit report today

G. Mahadevan

Encroachments on ‘pipeline road’ between Peroorkada and Vellayambalam

Panel headed by Coolector reviews documents
Joint survey conducted by KWA and Revenue

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A committee headed by District Collector Sanjay M. Kaul to recommend ways to deal with encroachments on the ‘pipeline road’ of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) from Peroorkada to Vellayambalam is likely to submit its report to the Cabinet sub-committee on encroachments on Tuesday.

The committee held its preliminary sitting on Monday and reviewed documents relating to encroachments on the pipeline road. According to sources in the Revenue Department, documents pertaining to 19 encroachments on the Vellayambalam-Kowdiar stretch and seven, near Kowdiar Junction, were placed before the committee.

‘Puramboke’ land

“On the Vellayambalam-Kowdiar stretch, we have found government records which identify certain locations as ‘puramboke’ land. In the case of some properties in Kowdiar, including the one said to be owned by the KWA engineers’ association, the present owners say they purchased the land from the Kowdiar Palace and have shown relevant records and revenue receipts. However, action can be taken if the land is identified as ‘puramboke’ in old revenue records,” a Revenue official explained.

On the Vellayamabalam–Kowdiar stretch, the encroachments identified by a joint survey conducted by the KWA and Revenue include a wall of the Christ Nagar School, that of a mosque and a temple. Further, porches of some houses, parts of the walls of some houses and six houses in their entirety would have to be removed, if the government decides to go in for eviction procedures. According to Revenue records, the ‘puramboke’ land is seen to be as much as four to five metres wide.

On the Salvation Army–Narmada complex stretch, the Revenue team identified 16 encroachments. These include one house and a portion of the office of the executive engineer of the KWA.

On the Salvation Army–Kowdiar stretch, there is no mention of a ‘pipeline puramboke’ area in survey records of previous years or in the re-survey records of the Sasthamangalam village. However, after the KWA showed the Revenue team the location of the pipeline, the latter determined that the plots come under survey numbers 184, 185, 186 and 187. The pipeline passes beneath properties for which land tax has been paid by one Abdul Rasheed, K.G. Abraham, Murukan, Geetha Murukan, Peninsular Plantations and the Water Authority Engineers’ Association.

In other places, the pipeline passes through areas that is four to five metres wide.

The Revenue sketches of this area show that the line passes through six properties for which there are title deeds. If this width is allowed inside the abovementioned properties it is seen that the house of Mr. Rasheed and the Water authority engineers’ building and walls of the property said to be owned by K.G. Abraham would be partially affected, the report submitted by Revenue authorities to the Cabinet sub-committee earlier this month said.

According to the Revenue officials, one way of minimising any demolition/eviction activity would be to allow a width of, say, two metres on either side of the arterial pipeline.

This would allow the KWA to carry out maintenance/repair activities on the line if and when necessary, the officials pointed out.

If on the other hand, the Cabinet sub-committee sides with the KWA’s insistence on a width of 10 metres for the pipeline road, partial/total demolition of 75 houses would have to be done.

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