IDUKKI: Falling in a catch-22 situation with their failure to present substantiating reasons for the indefinite protest against Devikulam sub collector Sriram Venkitaraman, CPM Idukki district unit is likely to seek a settlement in the meeting called by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the land related issues in Munnar on Monday.
The party district unit wanted to end the protest in a face-saving mode as the government has accepted the prime demands even before the commencement of the protest.
The CPM Idukki district unit commenced their protests against Sriram raising two issues. One - the officer was creating unnecessary troubles to farmers and people of the lower social strata by issuing an order that he himself would verify all the title deeds before collecting land tax from the public and for issuing various land related certificates; second - he was not issuing no-objection certificates (NoC) for constructing houses as well as any other building in Munnar and adjacent areas. Regarding the first issue, the documents accessed by ‘Express’ have revealed that the District Collector had repealed the order for verification of title deeds even before the CPM commenced the protests on March 7.
As far as the second issue is considered, an order made by the Kerala High Court in January 2010 had made NoC from Revenue Department mandatory for every construction activity in Munnar area.
Moreover, the previous Idukki district collector had issued a directive making NoC mandatory for construction activities in eight villages (KDH, Pallivasal, Anaviratty, and Vellathooval in Devikulam taluk and Bison Valley, Chinnakkanal, Santhanpara and Navilasam in Udumbanchola taluk).
While the district collector is authorised to issue NoC for the construction of commercial buildings, the sub collector is the authority to issue NoC for residential buildings. Reacting to the NoC related allegations, Sriram said he has already cleared 117 of the total 125 applications received for constructing houses in Devikulam sub-division. “Two applications were rejected as they were in Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR),” he said.
Following this, CPM leaders have changed their demands and said an act should be enacted to protect the interest of the people and tourism industry. “An act should be enacted to protect the buildings which were already constructed. At the same time provision in the land assignment (LA) title deeds should be amended for permitting activities other than agriculture and home construction in Munnar. We hope a solution will emerge in CM’s meeting,” said K V Sasi, CPM district committee member.