The state government has assigned 2.7 acres of government land in Poovar, Thiruvananthapuram to the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO)/ Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) for marine exploration by realizing the fair value of  ₹2.5 crore. The decision was made to levy only the fair value, overruling the remarks of the Finance Department which wanted the government to demand ₹6.73 crore as market value for the land. 

The Director, NPOL, Kochi requested for the assignment of 12 acres of land near the Poovar Coastal Police Station in Neyyattinkara Taluk  to set up own testing facilities in the southern part of Kerala for DRDO's NPOL, Kochi and Naval Science and Technology Laboratory in Visakhapatnam. 

Cabinet notes show that a joint inspection by the Revenue and DRDO officials identified 8.3 acres of land in Poovar of which 4.3 acre was government land and the remaining was private property. The DRDO officials then requested to assign the available government land at the earliest citing that the plot could be prepared for experimental purposes of national importance and security in a phased manner.  DRDO project director requested that the assignment of land can be considered on fair value. 

The District Collector reported that the land lies at 50m from the High Tide Line (HTL) and that the government can use discretionary powers under the Land Assignment Rules to handover the land to the DRDO. 

When the opinion of the Finance Department was sought, it concurred with the proposal to assign the land to the DRDO for marine exploration but by levying market value of ₹6.73 crore at a rate of ₹6.18 lakh per are. The cabinet however decided to levy only the fair value and assign the land. 

NPOL, Kochi, is a laboratory of DRDO, engaged in the development of Sound Navigation And Ranging (SONAR) and allied technologies. The thrust areas of R&D of the NPOL are signal processing, electronics, engineering systems, transducers, materials, and oceanography, according to te NPOL website.