Tripunithura Municipality has asked the Kochi Refinery Limited to stop work immediately on the land-filling exercise near the land beside Chithrapuzha river at Irimpanam following allegations of encroachment into the river.
Municipality Chairman R. Venugopal said KRL gave an undertaking on Saturday that further work would be taken up only after inspection of encroachment. The Land Survery Department, the Minor Irrigation Department, the Tripunithura Municipality and the KRL will be inspecting the site at 11 a.m. on Monday. According to Mr. Venugopal, the KRL is erecting the eastern boundary of the site, but it is feared that truck loads of mud brought in at night had in fact fallen into the stream where there is no wall.
Govt. nod KRL has got government permission to fill 16 acres of land for the upcoming Rs. 20,000 crore worth project.
The KRL spokesperson told The Hindu that the land was bought by the company in 1967. The boundaries were marked and work on developing this land was going on at least three metres inside the boundary demarcation. However, work had been stopped for inspection. If there were any corrections to be taken up, the company would follow the guidelines, the spokesperson said.
