A few days after Express published a report on the resistance of Corporation in leaving back the seven acres of land where KDA has to take up its first multiple complex projects, Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali said that Corporation is not needed to bear the liability of the KDA and Corporation and KDA must reach a consensus to end the dispute between them.
“The smooth functioning of both the bodies is essential for the development of the city and both must have to settle the dispute at the earliest,’’ the Minister said. Corporation Mayor Prasanna Earnest, justifying her stand, told Express: “It was not only the seven acres of land but also their liabilities that we took from the KDA during its closure in 2007. We paid Rs 6 crore for various land acquisition cases related to the KDA and we had also paid Rs 78 lakh to Hudco which KDA had borrowed.’’
She said that once the Corporation received these amounts from KDA the Corporation will definitely give back their land. “It is true that we took loan from the Kerala Urban and Rural Development Finance Corporation based on the guarantee of the land and we had used the money for paying the debt of KDA and also for developing the market at Polayathodu,’’ the Mayor said.
She added that the Corporation is ready to construct multiplexes on the said land and the proposal in this regard had been sent to Urban Affairs Department for approval. The Corporation allotted 50 cents from these seven acres of land for the development of Andamukkam bus stand and is planning to construct one pump house and revive the lake on this land as well. The KDA too had started levelling the land with the hope that the land will reach its hands at the earliest.
“We don’t want to fight with anyone for getting this land back. Why don’t they transfer the land with liabilities? Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali must take the initiative and put an end to the dispute,’’ said KDA chairman A K Hafeez.
