Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has asked former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to direct his ranting on the Munnar encroachments at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with particular reference to the fate of the ‘Munnar mission’ he had launched when he was at the helm of affairs in the State.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala said the Chief Minister’s statement on the issue would not bring a final resolution to encroachment at Munnar. He wanted the State government to distinguish between settlers and encroachers while handling Munnar cases.
Mr. Chennithala said Mr. Achuthanandan was posing questions to him since the senior CPI(M) leader could not challenge the Chief Minister. He said it was CPI(M) leaders such as M. M. Mani who were responsible for the failure of the Munnar mission.
He wanted to know what happened to the 10,000 acres of land Mr. Achuthanandan had allegedly impounded from the Tata group. Several encroachment cases were now a subject matter before the High Court, he said.
The CPI(M) was now giving leadership to the large scale encroachment in Munnar. The party’s legislator was under a cloud over possession of government land on the basis of a fake title-deed. A munsif court had ruled that the land belonged to KSEB, he pointed out and listed out other areas where the CPI(M) leaders had encroached upon government land.
He said he did not want to mix politics and expected the government to respond in a more rational way in tackling the multiple problems the hill resort was facing currently. The Neelakurunji was expected to flower next year in tune with its 12-year flowering cycle and the area could come under further stress.
He put forward a multi-layered programme, including setting up a Munnar development authority, special legislation to guide developments in the area, eco-friendly projects, and measures to protect its biodiversity. The UDF will organise a dharna in Munnar on April 4 to highlight the multiple problems the area was facing.
