Munnar: The functioning of hydel tourism centres in Idukki district is in the eye of a storm after the adverse remarks made by KSEB Chairman B Ashok in his Facebook post over the commercial lease of land for tourism purposes became a discussion point.
The district committee of the Youth Congress alleged in November, 2019 that the State Government incurred a heavy monetary loss by way of giving contract to societies and individuals for running hydel tourism projects in Ponmudi, Mattupetty, Anayirangal, Munnar, Kallarkutty and Chenkulam.
The allegation was that many societies which attended the tender process were fake and remained only in paper and the whole project was designed for helping the CPM-controlled cooperative societies.
The latest controversy revolved around the handing over of the hydel garden owned by the Munnar Hydel Tourism Society to a cooperative society run by the CPM for a very long period for lease, that too for a very cheap rate. The hydel tourism society has to its ownership 16 acres of land that is situated in between Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway and Muthirapuzha River.
When the Hydel Tourism Society was making good profit through ticket sales from the hydel garden project, all of a sudden, the CPM-ruled Munnar Service Cooperative Society was given a contract for the implementation of the tourism projects by the previous LDF Ministry.
However, Hydel Tourism Director Narendra Nath Veluri IFS recently gave instructions to his subordinates to dismantle the ropeway equipment erected by the Munnar society after finding that the entire contract is disadvantageous to the Hydel Society.
There is also a case pending in the court over the loss suffered by the KSEB to the tune of lakhs of rupees due to the illegal sand-mining and tree-felling from the land given for lease.
