The Munnar eviction drive may lose its steam with Revenue officials opting for en masse transfer following the shifting of Sriram Venkitaraman, who took stringent action for restoring the alienated land at Devikulam and Udumbanchola taluks, from the post of the Devikulam Subcollector recently.
This indirectly will help land-grabbers and halt the eviction process at least for a period till the dust settles down. The eviction drive was made possible only with the cooperation of a team of officials who felt ‘demoralised’ and opted for transfer instead of remaining at Devikulam.
There was a feeling that the continuance at Devikulam would negatively affect their career as they might be targeted by service organisations and the local political leadership which stood firmly against the eviction drive. An official who preferred transfer told The Hindu on Thursday that there was a security feeling under Mr. Venkitaraman which may not be felt in the changed conditions.
Those who are transferred from the Devikulam Revenue Divisional Office included head clerk P. Balachandran Pillai as village officer Kanchiyar village office, clerks P.K .Shiju (taluk office, Devikulam), P.K. Soman (land assignment office, Rajakumari) and R.K. Siju (survey superintendent office, Nedumkandam).
The additional tahsildar who had directly led the eviction drive was earlier transferred to Thodupuzha. ‘‘There was a team spirit and positive atmosphere for delivering the duties though there were risk factors,’’ he said and added that it was the team spirit given by Mr. Venjkitaraman.
The threats and open challenges by the local MLA had the effect of throwing cold water on the eviction drive and the career and family life too might be affected if continued in the changed atmosphere, he added.
The role of a junior level officer in timely moving the files and pointing towards the issues related to different cases is important for taking action against the land-grabbers. If the files are not properly checked, the action taken against the encroacher will be counter-effective. The team of Mr. Venkitaraman had worked hard and made the files ready to take appropriate timely action on the encroachers.
This makes the officials, though junior, relevant in taking the action on the land-grabbers. The real challenge before the new Subcollector will be the creation of a team under him to take the follow-up action.
The team under Mr. Venkitaraman took the files nearly kept in the dust for a decade after the High Court’s order entrusting the Subcollector’s office for issuing the no-objection certificates for commercial constructions under the two taluks.
The action on the land-grabbers and illegal constructions was taken with proper support of the official documents that made it flawless and the team became an eyesore to those who had supported the encroachments and illegal constructions.
