No land to call their own, islanders remain all at sea

Eight years on, court directive to rehabilitate residents still on paper

Herman Gilt and Mercy Wilfred, both in their 60s, remember a time when there were over 30 families living on Raman Thuruth. In the early 80s, people gradually began moving out. Today, there are just five families left on the island, battling poor living conditions and with no title deeds to stake claim to the land on which their ancestors lived for over 150 years.

“Most people who settled on the island a century ago were employees of Aspinwall & Company,” says Mr. Gilt, who was an employee of the company. The five families left on the island live on land previously owned by the British firm, says Ms. Wilfred.

“As per our records, the land on which the families have settled is today owned by the government,” says the Fort Kochi village officer. There is also some land owned by the Cochin Port Trust, but the exact extent remains unknown in the absence of a proper land survey, says Shiny Mathew, councillor representing Ward 1 of the Kochi Corporation under which Raman Thuruth falls.

For the islanders, it has been a long battle for land rights. Mr. Gilt says the first written appeal for title deeds was presented to the then Governor Jothi Venkatachalam in 1977. Though successive governments promised action, nothing happened, and the islanders were forced to move the High Court.

In 2010, the court directed the State government to make arrangements for the rehabilitation of the islanders to a plot identified by the District Collector in Vazhakkala village in Ernakulam. More than eight years have passed since the directive, and the islanders are still unsure of their fate. “We have been left in deep waters,” says Lineesh, a resident.

Antony Kureethara, the lawyer who represented the islanders, blames political parties for discouraging them from moving out of Raman Thuruth. Various parties led them on to believe that they would be allotted land there itself, says Mr. Kureethara, who was also the former ward councillor. The islanders say they are tired of false promises, and want officials to hold a fresh round of discussions with them. “We need at least five to ten cents of land, we refuse to move for anything lesser,” they say. “After battling inhospitable living conditions for years, this is the least that we are asking,” they add.

Additional District Magistrate Chandrasekharan says a final decision on the allotment of land will be taken soon. Once the government allots land, the Corporation is willing to arrange all other facilities for them, says Ms. Mathew.