The government has decided to allot land to sixteen landless families from Chengara in Kasargod district. These families had earlier declined to accept the land allotted to them in Idukki district as part of the Chengara rehabilitation package on the ground that it was unsuitable for human habitation and farming.
As per the Govt order, land allotted to these families in Idukki district have been cancelled and instructions have been issued to the Land Revenue Commissioner for rehabilitating them in Kasargod district. Earlier, the 16 families had submitted a petition demanding that the land allotted in Idukki was not suitable for habitation and farming and they be provided alternative land. The Idukki District Collector who had looked into the matter had reported that the land allotted to the families was not suitable for habitation and farming.
The Kasargod Dist Collector had reported to the govt that land was available in the district. The 16 families will have to record their acceptance of the land they had been allotted in Kasargod and they should give an undertaking that the land would not be transferred. The govt had already provided land to 1,495 families from among those took part in the agitation for land at Chengara. They were provided land in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod districts. Of the 1,495 families, 38 belonged to STs, 1,227 to SCs, and 230 belonged to other categories, including upper castes. Beneficiaries in the ST category were allotted one acre each while those in the SC category got 50 cents. Those belonging to the other categories got 25 cents.