Thiruvananthapuram: It has now come to the fore that it was with the knowledge of the then Electricity Minister MM Mani that the land owned by the KSEB at the Ponmudi dam area near Munnar was handed over to the Rajakkad Service Cooperative Bank led by his son-in-law VA Kunjumon for running a hydel tourism project.
Kunjumon gave a request to the Kerala Hydel Tourism Centre (KHTC) for getting 21 acres of land at the dam area.
According to the order issued by the KSEB, Mani, in his capacity as minister, convened a meeting of the KHTC executive committee on February 6 and decided to hand over the requested land.
A meeting of the full-time director board members of the KHTC held on February 28, 2019 ratified the decision to hand over the land to the Rajakkad bank for 15 years.
The agreement was that the revenue earned from the tourism project would be shared between the cooperative bank and the KHTC in an 80:20 ratio. It was also decided that 15 percent of the revenue would be given to the KSEB. The ownership of the land will be vested with the KSEB.
With these revelations, the argument of KSEB Chairman B Ashok that the land was given to society by the KSEB for running tourism projects without the concurrence of the State Government and the Board itself fell flat.
The KHTC forms part of the KSEB and its land was given to the cooperative societies with the permission of the Board. Strict conditions were laid down while handing over the land.
It was KSEB decision, says Mani
Meanwhile, Mani told the media that the decision to hand over the land to the Rajakkad Cooperative Bank for hydel tourism project was taken by the KSEB through legal means.
The land was given to those who gave the highest quotation.
To a question on the demand of Opposition Leader in the Assembly VD Satheesan that the land transfer deed should be revoked, he retorted, "which Satheesan".
"I am an innocent person. You should ask all these questions to the present Minister Krishnan Kutty. The KSEB Chairman told me that he had not spoken anything against me. You should ask the minister whether Ashok should continue in his post. Satheesan should inquire what had happened during the time when Aryadan Mohammed was the Electricity Minister. Aryadan and his son gave land to even private parties. Oommen Chandy was a party to all these things. My stand was that all these deals should come under a Vigilance inquiry," Mani added.
