THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Defence Ministry, in reply to Shashi Tharoor MP’s request to consider the matter of construction near Pangode military camp, made it clear that exemptions given to construction on land near some military camps will not be applicable here. This response dashed the hopes of for hundreds of citizen owning land near the military camp for constructing a house here.
Nanma Koottayma, a collective of residents’ associations of Poojappura, Vivekananda Nagar, Chadiyara, Chitra Nagar, Vidhyadhiraja Nagar and Cherukara Gardens, has been fighting for this issue. Nanma Koottaima has written a letter on this issue and has forwarded it to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Tharoor, O Rajagopal MLA and Mayor V K Prasanth.
The MP had forwarded the request to the Defence Minister, seeking the reason for not including the Pangode military campus in the annexure list of military camps.The restrictions were limited to 10 metre for 193 military camps and to 50 metre for 149 stations. But Pangode was not included on both these lists; only Kannur was included from Kerala. According to the ministry’s letter, the amended guidelines can be made applicable to the 342 army establishments listed in 2016. For other defence establishments, including Pangode, the 2011 norms will be applicable. No specific reason for not providing the relaxation for Pangode was provided.
But Nanma Koottayma is not ready to give up on the fight. “We will continue to raise this issue with the Union government,” said S Prasannakumar, general convener of Nanma Koottayma. “On November 1, we will conduct a ‘Sangada Sangamam’ against the issue.
Change has to be made by the Defence Ministry and so the organisation will force the Chief Minister to take a stand on this issue. If no action is being taken by the government, a protest march will be held by Nanma Koottayma and the citizens of all four wards.”Due to the restrictions, many building permit applications from this region are pending with the Corporation.