“We won’t allow any party worker to campaign here. We will boycott the general elections if our demands for complete withdrawal of the draft master plan are not met,” thunders a group of protesters near a makeshift tent erected beside the Kazhakuttam-Venjaramoodu bypass at Kattayikkonam.
The protest here, which has entered its fourth phase, was expected to fizzle out after the Government Order in February announcing the freezing of the draft master plan 2031. Following the decision, residents in these areas have started getting building permits.
In the city Corporation’s Kazhakuttam zonal office alone, ‘more than 50 building permits’ were cleared over the past three weeks, according to an official.
No use of publicityThis fact was being given wide publicity by the Corporation authorities and town planners, but it does not seem like it will wash with the residents of Kattayikkonam or Attipra wards, who have vowed to continue the fight until the master plan ends up in the dustbin.
“The temporary withdrawal of the master plan is an election ploy. By giving building permits to new applicants, they are creating an impression that everything is fine. But we are sure that they will come back with the plan and take over all our land, including the ones for which new building permits were given. This is what we gathered from our interaction with various authorities over the past few days,” R. Pradeep, a member of the Kattayikkonam Janakeeya Samara Samithi.
The protest has remained apolitical till date, with different groups including women and children taking their turns at the protest venue daily. To those branding them as anti-development, they give examples of the people who gave up land for the Kazhakuttam-Venjaramoodu bypass.
“There is so much unused government land as well as land that was earlier acquired which was not put to any use, in places like Vengode. But still they want to drive us out of our homes in the name of development. The government is not even telling us what specific purpose this will be put to use for. We want to be a model to the world as a community which says we are happy with whatever development we already have,” says P.S. Dinesh, another protester.
District Collector Biju Prabhakar told The Hindu that he would visit the areas this week and send a report to the government.
“Every area requires a master plan, without which the problems of unplanned development will crop up in the future. Land cannot be acquired without the consent of the residents. But if at all they have to be relocated, it should be into flats or villas funded by the government, to facilitate the horizontal growth of the city,” says Mr. Prabhakar.
But the natives of Kattayikkonam see this ‘shift to flats’ approach as an attempt at further pushing them into the margins.
In nearby Attipra, another ward where protests against the master plan are still active, the residents look at the burgeoning number of flats with alarm.
“In this region, permissions for new flats are given breaking all norms. They do not have even the basic sewage treatment facilities and has ended up polluting the ground water here. The wells have also gone dry. But when we apply for building permits, they try everything in their powers to reject it. Even the master plan was formulated to hand over our land to the real estate mafia,” says B.S. Arjun of the Attipra Janakeeya Samara Samithi.
With the ward by-elections set to happen at Attipra early next month, candidates are finding it hard to even begin campaigning here.
Here, there are more posters put up by the protesters than by the candidates.
