KOCHI: A boundary dispute between Maradu municipality and Kumbalam panchayat has reared up again, with even a joint inspection on Monday – comprising officials from both local bodies – failing to find a solution.
It all started a year ago when the Maradu municipality moved the ‘Welcome’ sign board 50 metres ahead of where it was originally located. The argument was that the board was initially set up 50 metres inside the original border, located near the Andipilli Canal near NH 66, a little ahead of Lakeshore Hospital.
“We simply corrected our own mistake a year back and relocated the sign board. In fact, the record books show that we’ve allotted a building permit at the disputed site five years ago. However, the Kumbalam panchayat is accusing us of encroaching 50 metres into their area,” said Maradu municipality chairperson Antony Ashanparambil. What has now again triggered the ‘border dispute’ is the granting of permit for a new 7,000-sqft building at the disputed site. A delegation from Kumbalam panchayat called on the Maradu municipality chairperson on Monday morning and lodged an official complaint, and demanded that the building activities be stopped immediately.
“We’ve already issued the permit for the land in our jurisdiction, but they say the said area falls under the panchayat’s jurisdiction and that the taxes should be paid to the panchayat. However, we’ve been collecting the same for a long time,” Antony added.
Finally, it was decided to conduct a joint inspection.
A team, consisting of officials from both the local bodies, including Antony Ashanparambil, Kumbalam panchayat president K S Radhakrishnan, municipality standing committee chairman Binoy Joseph, panchayat standing committee chairman K R Rahul, held an inspection.
However, they failed to arrive at a consensus and the dispute remains unresolved. At the same time, Kumbalam panchayat president Radhakrishnan said they called on the Maradu municipality chairperson to hand over “evidence” showing that the said area falls under the jurisdiction of the panchayat.
“There are 11 buildings in the disputed area. We’ve handed over the building permit numbers to them. Earlier, the municipality gave a building permit but we didn’t want to make that an issue. But now they’ve issued a new permit. Following the joint inspection, they’ve promised to stop the construction activities and look into a legal remedy,” Radhakrishnan said.
Meanwhile, there are also demands for the intervention of the state government to find a solution to the ‘border dispute’.