KALPETTA: Environmental organisations in the district have urged the government to adopt stringent measures to stop the reckless filling of wetland for business ventures, especially in ecologically fragile areas in the hill district.
Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti president N. Badusha and Green Cross secretary E.K. Sakeer Hussain on Saturday said that filling of wetlands in contravention of the Kerala Paddy Land and Wetlands Conservation Act was common in the district, even in ecologically sensitive areas like Lakkidi and Vythiri in Kunnathidavaka village, on behalf of the so called tourism development.
“Many a time, the conversion of wetland for business ventures was the work of a Kozhikode-based mafia with the support of Revenue and Panchayat officials,” Mr. Badusha alleged. “In a recent incident, an acre of wetland near the Kozhikode-Kollegal National highway 766 near Wayanad gate was filled after diverting a stream in the guise of setting up a parking facility,” he said.
Though the process was stalled by the timely intervention of the public, the mafia was able to fill more than 40 acres with the alleged support of officials, he added. “They [mafia] had also constructed many a multi-storey building in the ecologically-sensitive area,” Mr. Badusha said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sakeer Hussain observed that since the region was a major catchment area, conversion of wetland would affect the entire district, .
