ALAPPUZHA:The Alappuzha municipality has served a notice on Water World Tourism Company, owners of the Lake Palace Resort, to remove the illegal constructions made by the resort owners. Former Transport Minister Thomas Chandy is a director of the company.
According to Alappuzha municipal secretary Jahangir, the joint inspection carried out by the municipality and various government departments had found that building rules were violated in the construction of around 32 buildings in the resort.
“We served notice under section 406(2) of the Kerala Municipal Act. The company should submit a reply and details of buildings within a notice period of 15 days. If they fail to submit details, we will initiate action under section 406 (2) to impose penalty or dismantle the illegal structures,” the secretary said. On Monday, the Agriculture Production Commissioner had served a notice on the company demanding to reclaim the car parking area constructed after filling the paddy field near the resort.
Former District Collector T V Anupama had served notice on the resort owners demanding reclamation of paddy land and demolition of illegal constructions in the compound. However, the High Court stayed the procedures citing some anomalies in the documents produced by the district administration. But Anupama’s report led to the ouster of Thomas Chandy from the ministry.
The row began with the tarring of the road leading to the Lake Palace Resort in August 2017. The road, constructed two years ago was tarred, using government funds in August. The issue of illegal construction of the resort came up at that time and the municipality started an investigation into the legal validity of the buildings in the resort, built 17 years ago.