
IDUKKI: Ten chains! For nearly 4,500 families living around Idukki and Cheruthoni reservoirs, that is the distance to their lives. Perhaps, no one knows who mooted the idea of ten chains distance, but a government decision in the late 1960s has been crippling their lives for generations.
The decision was to evict and rehabilitate the people living within a distance of ten chains (a chain having a distance of 10 m) from the water level of Idukki and Cheruthoni reservoirs. However, the government dropped the idea halfway, leaving the lives of hundreds of people in peril. Several elections went by, politicians offered promises, several talks were held and scores of protests were staged, yet there has been no let-up in their ordeal. The people living in the Ten Chains area of these reservoirs have been knocking at the doors of officers, political leaders and various authorities for the past five decades, but in vain.
Idukki dam and the commencement of issues
Idukki district literally became the power station of the state ever since the commissioning of the Idukki hydro-electric project in 1975. However, the proceedings to construct a dam across the Periyar, which began in 1964, cast a shadow on thousands of people who lived on the water shed of the river.
The government started evicting people since 1964 and thousands were relocated for the construction of the dam reservoir. These were people who had been brought to Idukki by the government as part of the ‘Grow More Food’ programme to meet the pulse requirement of the state. When the construction of the dam commenced by 1968, an engineer raised an issue: “The people living at ten chains distance from the maximum possible water level limit should also be evicted and no agriculture should be permitted in this area.” The reason: Farm activities may lead to soil erosion, and an ensuing silt deposit in the dam, eventually affecting power generation adversely.
Accepting the recommendation, the government issued an order and provided identity cards to people living in areas like Ayyappan Kovil, Kulamavu, Vairamani and Venganam, to be evicted and rehabilitated. “The government offered three acres of land to each family and some amount as compensation for the people who were evicted. The Revenue Department handed over the land to the KSEB,” says K J Kuttiyachan, former president of Ayyappan Kovil panchayat, one of the oldest men in the area.
However, the process incurred a huge financial burden to the KSEB, and availability of land for rehabilitation also became a problem. Meanwhile, a committee appointed by the government and led by Itty Darvin, an engineer, to study the issue in the late 1970s, termed the exercise worthless. He said soil erosion owing to farming will not make a serious impact on the dam. Soon, the government stopped the eviction process. However, by the time it was stopped, the government had evicted a good number of people and the rest of them living in Ayyappan Kovil area were allowed to stay there. “When the people started protests and demanded compensation for leaving their land uncultivated for more than a decade as directed by the government, a decision was taken to give four cents to one acre of land in Kozhimala area and an amount of Rs 250 as compensation. However, this promise was also dropped halfway,” says Kuttiyachan.
After the decision not to evict people from Ten Chains area, taken by the end of 1970s, the KSEB returned around 158 acres of land to the Revenue Department, which was also awarded to people. When the government started providing title deeds to settler farmers in Idukki, their crisis re-emerged. While a few of the families got title deeds, environmentalists approached court against awarding of title deeds in the district citing environmental impact. Though the Supreme Court permitted issuance of title deeds with certain conditions and the government issued an order to provide deeds to people settled in the High Ranges before January 1, 1977, the issues of Ten Chains people remained unresolved.
“When the government resumed proceedings to issue title deeds, we submitted applications. However, the officers held them back, citing the reason we were living in Ten Chains area,” says Mathukutty, a farmer whose family had settled at Mattukkatta in 1952. This is not an isolated case. As per an approximate statistics taken by the Revenue Department, as many as 4,500 families living in Ten Chains areas in Ayyappan Kovil, Kanchiyar, Upputhara and Erattayar grama panchayats have been denied title deeds.For many families, the third or fourth generation is holding the land. Yet, they have no proper documents and they cannot sell, transact or mortgage their property, even after generations. Even as their protests have completed five decades, there is no let-up in their crisis.
The dispute
Though the KSEB withdrew its claim to Ten Chains area by 1978, the department re-entered with another claim after the formation of the Dam Safety Authority in 2006. The KSEB wanted three chains of land from the maximum possible water level area of the dam, which further complicated the issues.
Even if this claim is accepted, around 1,800 families living in Ayyappan Kovil panchayat will be displaced. At the same time, the Forest Department also raised claim to a few areas of the land there. It is learnt the Revenue Department is planning to give one chain area to the KSEB.
Possible solution
As per the directive of Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan, Collector G R Gokul submitted a report to the Revenue Secretary a couple of days ago, recommending that title deeds be provided to the farmers. “The KSEB shall be given three months’ time to find out the critical areas for possible soil erosions and they can recommend mitigation works there,” said Gokul. “We had received multiple communication, including a letter from the deputy chief engineer of KSEB in 2004, stating they have no objection in issuing title deeds in the area as they did not need the land. Moreover, Ten Chains area is out of the dam’s catchment area as well,” he said.