The Pashchima Ghatta Janasamrakshana Samithi has threatened to protest if the land acquired in Kavilumpara village under the Ecologically Fragile Land (EFL) act is not returned to the farmers immediately and the act itself repealed with retrospective effect.
Convenor of the samithi Joy Kannanchira told reporters here on Friday that the acquisition here was done unscientifically and as a result, most of those who lost the land under the act were farmers or agricultural labourers who had no other means for survival.
As many as 71 farmers in Kavilumpara Village have lost their lands under the act. The authorities were not even ready to hear what the farmers had to say. Around 1,300 acres of land had been acquired in the village under sections 3/1 and 4/1 of the act. Of these, 28 were farmers and agricultural labourers. Besides, the forest officials had asked many others to vacate, Mr. Joy said.
Incidentally, all the lands included under EFL in the village were in the possession of the farmers before 1971.
