The Committee on Public Accounts of Kerala Assembly has suggested that the rent on the land leased to Tamil Nadu for Mullaperiyar reservoir should be revised.
In its report presented to the House on audit observations on Forest and Wildlife Department, the Committee noted that the Kerala Grants and Leases (Modification of Rights) Act, 1980, was yet to be invoked to renew and enhance rents on various government leases in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
The committee noted that an area of 32.39 square kilometres was leased to Tamil Nadu Public Works Department for constructing the Mullaperiyar Dam for an annual lease rent of Rs. 2.40 lakh. Similarly, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) and other organisations were given land on lease. However, they were neither renewing the lease nor availing fresh leases.
Remarking that the State was not getting revenue due from its land, the Committee observed that revenue loss was sustained by way of non-renewal of lease after expiry of lease period or ‘repossessment of fresh lease’ for land owned by the State in the possession of Tamil Nadu Public Works Department, KTDC and other organisations. “Hence the Committee recommends to renew and enhance the lease rent in the cases whose lease period had expired, on the basis of the Kerala Grants and Leases (Modification of Rights) Act, 1980.”
Though the Committee has opined that rent on Mullaperiyar should be revised, that is not included in the list of recommendations at the end of the report. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests had told the Committee that the Forest Department alone could not take action on renewal of rent on land leased to Tamil Nadu during British rule as it was an inter-State issue. The Committee suggested renewal and enhancement of lease rent for the land owned by Kerala and in possession of Tamil Nadu should be undertaken after verification of the provisions of the Act.
The Committee observed that the biotic pressure on the Tiger Reserve could not be reduced due to the non-declaration of the contiguous habitats as ecologically fragile, as envisaged in the Environment Protection Act. It recommended that the Pachakkanam Downtown Estate, Goodrickal Range of Ranni Forest Division and Meghamalai of Tamil Nadu should be declared as ecologically fragile under the provisions of the Act.
The Committee noted with extreme dissatisfaction that even though the notification contemplating to declare the core area of the Tiger Reserve as National Park was issued in October 1982, the final notification was not issued till March 2006. “Hence, the Committee urges the Department to inform the reasons for the delay in no time.”
It found that the Department had “pathetically failed” to take measures for minimising the adverse impact of pollution within the radius of 25 km of the tiger habitat. The Committee further observed that quarrying work for strengthening Mullaperiyar Dam by Tamil Nadu Public Works Department had been going on within the Reserve, violating the Wildlife Protection Act, and strongly opined that the quarrying in Mullaperiyar Dam site should not be allowed at any cost.
