IDUKKI: The revenue department on Sunday reclaimed 96.5 acres of land in Munnar and Wagamon in an anti-encroachment drive. While 79 acres of encroached land was reclaimed in Uluppuni in Wagamon, 17.5 acres was taken back at Pothamedu in Munnar.
Peermade Land Revenue (LR) Tahsildar M K Shaji led the eviction drive at Wagamon, as directed by Idukki Collector H Dineshan. A resort owner there was in possession of the land from 2010, Dineshan told TNIE.
“The encroached land had five buildings located on a hill,” he said. Tahsildar Shaji said investigation has been going on against the encroacher and resort owner Cyril Jacob for the past 10 years. “The buildings, which are mostly resorts, have been sealed. All title deeds in possession of the owner will also be cancelled after some of them were found to have been forged and unrelated to the particular area,” Shaji said.He also said that a criminal case has been initiated against the offender under Section 7A of the Kerala Land Conservancy (Amendment) Act, 2009.
Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan said the department took back around 17.5 acres of land in Munnar.
The illegal land in possession of Tall Tree Resort at Pothamedu was reclaimed under the leadership of Munnar LR Tahsildar K Radhakrishnan, in line with a Kerala High Court order. The land comes under survey numbers 231, 241 and 243.
The government reclaimed the land following legal proceedings that began in 1995. The minister said the department will carry out further eviction activities in the state given proper evidence regarding the same.
The last such anti-encroachment drive carried out by the revenue department in Munnar happened in 2017 when more than 30 acres of land was evicted in Pappathichola hill.