THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that the Bill to amend the Kerala Paddy Land and Wetland Conservation Act, 2008, will kill the spirit of the legislation.
“Eleven of the total 30 sections will be amended to help the real estate mafia and corporates. There is massive corruption behind the amendment that would see the destruction of the remaining paddy fields. Damage to the environment will be huge,” he said here on Thursday.
Chennithala said the CPI was staging a drama to create an impression among the people that it is against the amendment’s provisions. “If the party is sincere, it should ask its minister to withdraw the Bill,” said Chennithala.
According to Chennithala, in the second section of the amendment Bill, a new category of land was created under the head “unnotified land” - land that has not been declared as paddy field or wetland through a gazette notification. As only 600 panchayats have published their databank in the gazette, this provision will lead to massive filling of paddy fields.
The LDF Government is yet to publish the databank, though its election manifesto had promised to do so within the first six months, he said, adding that the amendment gives the right for land assignment for public purposes to the government, which will help corporates.The provision to replace the monitoring committee headed by the Land Revenue Commissioner with a private agency is to aid corruption, he added.
Meanwhile, former revenue minister Adoor Prakash said the government was moving ahead with the Bill in an autocratic way. The subject committee on the Bill did not discuss the issue properly. A privilege notice will be issued against not sending the Bill to a select committee, he said.