THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With doubts being raised over genuine landholders in Vattavada-Kottakamboor villages in Idukki, the ministerial team that visited the region has decided to recommend a comprehensive survey to identify the real farmers who have proper documents. Apart from this, the team comprising Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan, Forest Minister K Raju and Electricity Minister M M Mani will also suggest to the government a resurvey of the whole region, a move that has been stalled many times.
The survey is to identify the legacy of the settlers, which will help to find out the real settlers in the region, highly placed sources in the revenue department said. Having a multidisciplinary approach, the survey is to be held in association with the departments of revenue, panchayat, survey, health, home and social justice, the sources said.
With respect to the home department’s role in the survey, the sources said it could identify whether the farmers who claim to be the real settlers have any land in Tamil Nadu and for how long they have been staying in a particular area. If the people have availed of any welfare benefits, they could be traced through the social justice department. All the departments can help a great deal in finding out the settlers with real roots, the sources said.
With resistance against a resurvey being put down during the visit, the ministerial team is likely to submit a proposal for resurvey. The proposed Neelakurinji garden is in blocks 58 and 62 of Vattavada-Kottakamboor villages. A majority of the encroachment is in block 58.The state has declared 3,200 hectares in Kottakamboor and Vattavada villages as the Neelakurinji Sanctuary. However, people’s representatives have claimed that the total area in the two blocks comes to only 2,900 hectares. The sources said that the government was for retaining 3,200 hectares under the sanctuary.
If the extent could not be met in the resurvey, then the government would think of taking up areas in the adjoining blocks of 59, 61 and 63, which have similar agro-climatic conditions. The revenue department is planning to hold a camp sitting by Devikulam sub-collector in Koviloor, Vattavada panchayat, where settlers can produce their documents. If found to be original, the documents will be endorsed in the sitting itself, the sources said. Once the lands are demarcated, these could be avoided from the sanctuary.
The survey is to identify the legacy of the settlers, which will help to find out the real settlers in the region, highly placed sources in the revenue department said. Having a multidisciplinary approach, the survey is to be held in association with the departments of revenue, panchayat, survey, health, home and social justice, the sources said
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is learnt to have called a high-level meeting in the first week of January 2018 to discuss the suggestions of the ministerial team that visited Vattavada-Kottakamboor villages. The team will submit its recommendations at the meeting. Apart from the ministers, officials from the revenue department and Idukki district will be present at the meeting, which is likely to discuss the steps that have to be taken to protect the Neelakurinji sanctuary.
The ministerial team was constituted at a high-level meeting presided over by the chief minister last month. Another major decision taken at the meeting concerns the resurvey/redefinition of the borders of 3,200 hectares of land notified as the sanctuary. It is in this vast area that the approximately 20 acres of the controversial Kottakamboor land held by MP Joice George’s family falls.