Restore alienated land to tribal people: Thankachan

August 04, 2010 08:16 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:32 pm IST - PALAKKAD:

United Democratic Front (UDF) convener P.P. Thankachan has demanded restoration of all alienated tribal lands in Attappady and other parts of the State to the tribal people as they have been usurped through fraudulent methods by non-tribal people.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Thankachan said the government should immediately take back the tribal lands usurped by some multinational windmill companies in Kottathara village of Attappady recently and give it back to the tribal families as the land was taken away by fabricating documents.

He said the total extent of land in Survey No.1275 in Kottathara village was only 224 acres, but documents showed 460 acres in that survey number. From this, the windmill companies bought 101.05 acres of land. This showed that there was fabrication of documents in registering more than double the actual land in one survey number, he said.

He alleged that the land fraud took place with the knowledge and consent of the government, including the Minister for Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities A.K. Balan, who hails from the district. The Minister, who was duty-bound to protect the tribal people, was trying to help the land grabbers, he said.

The Minister made contradictory statements in the Assembly on the action against such land scam in Attappady. He was also not prepared to take action on the reports of the District Collector and the Integrated Tribal Development Project Officer (ITDP) of Attappady.

Mr. Thankachan demanded immediate action on the reports of the District Collector and the ITDP Officer who had found that there was irregularity and fraudulent methods in snatching the tribal land.

But the government was not prepared to take action on these reports in order to help the windmill companies. This showed there was corruption in the whole deal, the UDF convener said.

That was why the State secretariat of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) had come out with a statement justifying that all land purchases in Kottathara village was in order. This was to help the company from any action against the fraudulent land deals, he said.

Mr. Thankachan said the UDF would organise a march to the disputed land at Kottathara on August 10, 2010. The march would be inaugurated by Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy.

It would be addressed by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty, Kerala Congress (M) chairman K.M. Mani, Kerala Congress (B) chairman R. Balakrishna Pillai, Socialist Janata Dal president M.P. Veerendrakumar, Communist Marxist Party (CMP) secretary C.P. John, Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader T.M. Jacob and others.

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