THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland (Amendment) Bill, slated to come up in the Assembly on Monday, could well put an end to the woes of lakhs of landowners. The controversial amendment would address the complaints of more than one lakh small-scale farmers who have been unable to build houses. “The amendment gives permission to construct houses or small shops on 5-10 cents of unnotified land (land not included in the draft data bank and levelled before 2008),” sources in the Revenue Department said.
“The data bank hasn’t been completed till now and there are major lapses too. That’s why many people are unable to construct houses on land levelled 50-60 years ago. That has been addressed.”
Those who want to make use of the clause should submit documents from the Kerala State Remote Sensing Centre to prove their claims. Curiously, the most controversial proposal - which would have watered down the legislation - has been excluded in the preliminary stage. As per the original draft, there was a move to exempt corporation limits from the provisions of the Act.
“There was a move to incorporate a clause excluding city corporations like Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from the legislation’s purview. With stiff opposition from the CPI, there were suggestions that at least regions under GCDA or TRIDA should be exempted. Finally, the LDF decided not to push that particular proposal,” sources said. The Left Government wants to extend paddy cultivation from 1.9 lakh hectares to 3 lakh hectares. In two years, the government was able to extend it to 2.20 lakh hectares. In addition, the new amendment puts forth clauses to promote paddy cultivation and ensures stern action against levelling of paddy land.
Local bodies can take over unutilised land and go for farming activities. About 25 per cent of the profit will go to the landowner while the remaining will be with the local body. Meanwhile, the existing restrictions on levelling of land will continue. The amendments make it possible for the government to make use of the land for its own projects. Land can be levelled only for government projects, based on the report by the state-level monitoring committee.
KPCC comes out against Act amendment
T’Puram: The Congress leadership in the state has come out against the Kerala Paddy land and Wetland Amendment Bill which will come up in the Assembly on Monday. The proposed amendments would turn out to be the Act’s obituary, said KPCC chief M M Hassan, who warned of major protests if the amendment is passed. “By amending 11 sections of the original Act, the Left Government is planning to give paddy and wetlands to the real estate lobby.
The controversial amendments should not be passed in the House on Monday,” Hassan said. He pointed out that the new category - unnotified land - being introduced through the amendments, could well lead to levelling of paddy fields and wetlands without any hind-rance. Since major chunk of the land has not been notified, it is evidently a clear move to aid land mafia. He also criticised the amendments were proposed to take away the powers of regional level monitoring committees.
Sudheeran urges Govt to withdraw amendment
Senior Congress leader V M Sudheeran wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urging the government to withdraw from the amendments that would nullify the very purpose of the Act. “Paddy cultivation has been going down drastically - from 1.96 lakh hectares in 2015-16 to 1.71 lakh hectares in 2016-17. Also, there’s a major decrease in rice production in the state. While there’s a requirement of 45 lakh tonnes, the actual production comes to only around 6 lakh tonnes,” he said. The proposed amendment, he said, could lead to major agriculture loss and water shortage.