Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

Theme park amidst encroachments

— Photo : A.Shaikmohideen

An eyesore: Encroachments at Ilanthaikulam in Palayamkottai.

TIRUNELVELI: Even as the corporation is gearing up to commence the work on the much-awaited theme park at Ilanthaikulam in Palayamkottai in the next few months, the civic body is not prepared to remove the 300-odd encroachments on the banks of this water body fearing loss of a considerable number of votes.

Since the 75-acre Ilanthaikulam on A.R. Line Road is under the control of Palayamkottai panchayat union, the corporation has to persuade the local body to hand over the tank to it to establish the theme park at a cost of Rs. 1 crore.

Since the Palayamkottai panchayat union was initially not in a mood to agree to the proposal from the corporation, Speaker R. Avudaiyappan and Collector G. Prakash convinced the panchayat union administration, which wanted to retain 1.25 acre of this land to construct a shopping complex to augment its revenue.

The entrance of this proposed relaxation point will come up on the space west of the office of State Highways on A.R. Line Road. A small area will be earmarked for installing play equipment to entertain children and for parking cars. A 950-metre-long retaining wall to maintain water in the tank throughout the year will be constructed with a walkers’ path on the western side of Ilanthaikulam.

Boating service is likely to be introduced later.

However, all these facilities to be incorporated in the proposed theme park at a cost of Rs. 1 crore may become a futile exercise due to the presence of 351 encroachments on 30 acres of land around Ilanthaikulam.

“The encroachments, polluting the water body for the past several years, will be an eyesore to the theme park. After illegal constructions gradually came up in this area, the water body and the surrounding areas have been badly polluted and the local body cannot do anything to improve the condition. Visitors, who will come to this spot to spend their evening or for the morning workout, will never come again owing to shabby conditions prevailing here,” said a resident of this area.

A top corporation official said the corporation could not remove the encroachments as government’s recent order on regularising the encroachments favoured the illegal occupants. “We’re helpless as the government’s policy only encourages the encroachers. Hence, the project has to be executed only amidst the encroachments,” he said.

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