The minister's company could be prosecuted for land grab if the findings are proven: File photoAlappuzha: A tourism company owned by transport minister Thomas Chandy has dumped gravel to alter the structure of government land along the Marthandam Lake in Kuttanad, the Alappuzha district collector said in a report.
The Water World Tourism Company has elevated 'puramboke' land that either belonged to the government or was assigned to landless farm laborers, an offense that could attract imprisonment of up to five years.
The collector found that the company’s operations undermined the government policy to distribute surplus land among landless laborers under the Land Reforms Act of 1963.
Encroaching government land with an intent to possess or use it can be punished with imprisonment of three to five years and a fine up to Rs 50,000, the collector pointed out.
The company was found to have taken possession of a 1.5 meter wide patch of puramboke land and the areas distributed among laborers, filling gravel on the ecologically sensitive wetland.
The company may be sued under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act if it is found to have reclaimed land outside the borders of the residential plots it legitimately owns.
Altering the structure of land should be viewed seriously on account of the ecologically sensitive nature of the area that adjoins the Vembanad Lake, the collector reported.
The district administration has asked the tehsildars to look into complaints of encroachments against the company from various parts of Alappuzha. These probes may lead to further action under the Land Reforms Act.
Read more at: Latest in Kerala | Hadiya is safe, secure and healthy, says National Women's Commission
