An official probe has been ordered into the fiasco witnessed at the district-level ‘pattaya' distribution mela organised by the Revenue Department at the Alappuzha Municipal Town Hall on Tuesday, where over 450 families were allegedly taken for a ride by officials promising them long-awaited title deeds.
Additional District Magistrate K.P. Thampi on Wednesday issued orders to Ambalapuzha tahsildar T.R. Azad to submit a report within two days on the role of officials in the incident, which saw over 450 families from the Purakkad region raising a furore when they were told that they would only be given land possession certificates, which they already had with them.
The reason given by the officials for not giving them title deeds was that the necessary surveys were not yet completed. However, this being a fact known to all officials, why the families were invited to the function remains unknown.
Whether they were invited on purpose, so that they would create a scene at a function that was attended by two Ministers would also be probed, officials said.
