The Alappuzha District Collector on Wednesday informed the Kerala High Court that a detailed inquiry was being conducted into the allegation regarding reclamation of backwaters and government land by a resort owned by Transport Minister Thomas Chandy.
In a report, Collector T.V. Anupama said the inquiry so far revealed that 64 plots with an extent of five cents each on the outer bund had been purchased from the originally assigned agriculturists by the company running the resort. It was revealed that some portions of the agricultural area were purchased by Mr. Chandy.
The files relating to the report of the Kainakari North village officer sent in July 2011 to the Collector could not be traced. Therefore, it could not be stated whether any action was taken pursuant to the report, the Collector said.
The Collector said the Kainakari North village officer submitted a report to the Kuttanad tahsildar saying that 26 loads of red earth transported through ‘jankar’ were used for filling the land, including some puramboke areas. The village officer issued a memo asking the resort to stop all activities on the land.
Site inspection
The Collector conducted a site inspection on September 27, 2017 and issued a directive to the tahsildar (LR), Kainakari, to conduct a survey of the land under dispute for initiating action under the Kerala Land Conservancy Act, 1957. The tahsildar had sought the service of three surveyors under the leadership of the Kuttanad Resurvey Superintendent or the Alappuzha District Survey Superintendent for eight days. Besides, the local-level monitoring committee had been asked to examine the nature of land and take appropriate action under Section 5(4) of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act, 2008.
As for the 64 plots purchased by Mr. Chandy, only 11 transactions could be verified. The village officer was directed to collect the details of the remaining plots, she said. The report added that the ongoing inquiry could be completed only after getting a report from the survey team. Necessary action would be taken immediately on completion of the inquiry.
The report was filed in response to a court directive that came on a writ petition filed by Vinod, member of the Kainakari grama panchayat, seeking action against Mr. Chandy.