Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Decks cleared for action against encroachments

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Encroachments on the 33-inch cast iron pipeline bringing water from Aruvikkara to the Kerala Water Authority’s reservoir at Vellayambalam may be removed, Law Secretary P. S. Gopinathan has recommended.

The Law Secretary’s recommendations on the encroachments were sent to the KWA Chairman and Principal Secretary, Water Resources, K. Jayakumar, on Wednesday. The government only has to decide on the procedures to be followed during such evictions, the Law Secretary’s report says.

The Cabinet sub-committee set up to deal with the encroachments on the pipeline laid in the 1920s had – on the basis of a report submitted on August 27 by a committee headed by District Collector Sanjay Kaul – asked the Law Secretary to study all relevant documents relating to the encroachments and recommend a course of action.

With this, the decks have been cleared for the Cabinet sub-committee to finalise a course of action against the encroachments.

The sub-committee can also now take a call on the Vigilance inquiry recommended by the Collector’s committee into how plots of land on either side of the pipeline – from Kanaka Nagar to the Narmada Shopping Complex – that are registered as ‘Puramboke’ in Revenue records were issued title deeds.

The Collector’s committee had recommended that action may be initiated against the encroachments as per relevant provisions of the Kerala Land Conservation Act and the Kerala Water Supply and Sewerage Act. It has also recommended that an inquiry be conducted into the fraudulent ‘transfer of registry’ (‘pokkuvaravu’) done during 2001-2005 on various plots of land in these areas.

From Kanaka Nagar to the Christ Nagar School – a 752-metre stretch – the Collector’s committee identified three encroachments: a thatched hut, a gate of the Christ Nagar School and parts of the school’s walls. In the 958-metre stretch from the school to the Salvation Army compound at Kowdiar, the committee identified 15 encroachments – five walls, three car porches, parts of six buildings and one bathroom of a house.

In the 400-metre stretch from the Salvation Army compound to the Kowdiar palace, the committee identified seven encroachments – land belonging to the palace, a portion of the building now in the possession of Abdul Shakeer, a portion of the land now in the possession of K.G. Abraham, a portion of the wall of the ‘Snehatheeram,’ a portion of the building of the Water Authority Engineers’ Association, a portion of the land in the possession of Geetha Murukan and a portion of the land in the possession of Peninsular Plantations.

In the 582-metre stretch from the Kowdiar palace to the Narmada Shopping Complex, the committee identified 18 encroachments – four shops, five houses, three sheds of the KWA, a building of the KWA and portions of five walls.

The seven plots of land for the ‘transfer of registry’ was found by the committee to be fraudulent are in survey number 184/3/1 (TP numbers 21702, 19608, 20119, 8040, 23547, 23545 and 23546).

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Onam with Uthradom Tirunal
Workshops on legislative procedure from September 16
Medical college under ESIC
2,500 teaching posts sanctioned
British MP favours integrated education
Sabarimala commissioner not efficient: Sudhakaran
Funding projects through lottery
New finishing school in Kochi soon
Pension revision applications
Venue shifted
KSHB is consultant
Revenue tower in Kochi soon
‘Seek CJ’s nod for Bench’
No evidence linking Minister’s children with Sabarinath: CB
‘Kaval’ bags children’s film awards
Care home residents celebrate Onam
Decks cleared for action against encroachments
Cultural fete begins

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu