Kerala Assembly: UDF stages walkout over Idukki encroachments

UDF walks out in Kerala Assembly over encroachment issue, accusing LDF government of inaction and political backing for encroachers.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday (March 18) protesting against Speaker A.N. Shamseer’s decision to deny the Opposition leave for an adjournment motion to debate the recent revelations of large-scale encroachments in Chokramudi hills and other areas in Idukki district.

The Opposition accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of failing to take action against illegal encroachments in Idukki district and to ensure title deeds for those who have been waiting for the same for decades.

Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who moved the motion, said that encroachers with “political backing” had created fake title deeds to usurp thousands of acres of government land. The government should answer how acres of rocky land which cannot legally get a title deed got the same. Though the taluk surveyor and the village officer had submitted several reports regarding the encroachments to the tehsildar, no action was taken. Behind the encroachments, there are the hands of a major lobby, which has got the government’s support too, he alleged.

He said that the distribution of title deeds in the district have been affected due to a court order. “The government is responsible for the plight of over 20,000 persons who are waiting for title deeds. The Forest department’s report that 2.15 lakh acres of land in the Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) comes under reserve forest category led to the adverse ruling. This report goes against the stand of successive State governments that only 15,721 acres out of the total 2.15 lakh acres of CHR land is a reserve forest,” he said.

Refuting the allegations, Revenue Minister K. Rajan said the government has been taking stringent action against encroachers.

The Revenue department has cancelled four title deeds and reclaimed 14.3 acres of encroached land at Chokramudi in Bison Valley village. Criminal cases have been filed against those who encroached on government land and initiated construction activities on the Chokramudi hills. Legal title deeds on some parcels of land are being used to encroach upon large areas of adjacent land, he said.

The government is giving priority to Idukki district for the ongoing digital resurvey proceedings, which will provide a lasting solution to all title deed-related issues, he added.