Move to develop kole land in Veliyannur

MLA holds talks with Minister

The development of large acres of kole land at Veliyannur in Koyilandy is likely to get a fresh impetus with the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct a field study on the possible development activities in the area. The move comes from the government following a discussion held by Koyilandy MLA, K. Dasan with Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan.

As part of the efforts, officials representing various government departments will hold a discussion with the MLA at Veliyannur on September 24.

Representatives of government departments including agriculture, tourism and water resources will attend the meeting along with the local panchayat heads and people’s representatives from the region.

“We need to have a development package like the Kuttanad package for the area. For that, we will give shape for a detailed action plan during the meeting,” said Mr. Dasan. He said the Koyilandy municipality too had earlier submitted a detailed proposal to the government for the development of the region.

For the past several years, large acres of the swamp had been remaining idle in the region.

1,300 acres lying idle

As per the official figures of the revenue department, there were around 1,300 acres of land remaining unused in the limits of two grama panchayats. Earlier, there was cultivation in around 130 acres of land.

According to Mr. Dasan, the possibility of utilising the area for large scale inland fish farming would be discussed during the meeting. The Fisheries Department had already expressed willingness to look into the scope and obtain the required land on lease from the owners.

Currently, the entire land is owned by various private parties who are willing to cooperate with any productive ventures on the part of the government.

Some of them have already expressed interest in handing over the required land to the government on lease for joint agricultural and fish farming ventures.