The Kallai River Protection Committee plans to approach the Kerala High Court once again after the authorities failed to follow the three-year-old High Court order to clear encroachments on the river.
Committee general secretary Faisal Pallikkandy told The Hindu here on Monday that widespread encroachment continued as the authorities were busy tackling the pandemic and alleged that some Revenue officials were hand in glove with encroachers.
“We had procured a High Court order in 2019 and in December that year, the Deputy Collector had served an eviction notice on 19 buildings on the river front. Soon COVID hit, and there was no follow-up on the notice. Now, we see that renovation work is in progress in some of those buildings,” Mr. Pallikkandy said, adding that it was a clear case of contempt of court.
Besides, the survey stones, which were put up by the Revenue department to mark the encroached land, have been destroyed by encroachers by piling timber on top of them, he alleged.
The committee has taken up the issue with the District Collector who has ordered the village officers of Panniyankara, Kasaba, and Nagaram to submit reports by Tuesday. The government has allocated ₹4.90 crore from the River Management Fund, while the Kozhikode Corporation has set aside ₹7 crore for clearing and deepening the river.
However, the project has not taken off owing to pressure from encroachers, Mr. Pallikkandy said.
The committee has decided to carry out cleaning of the river in protest against the neglect in implementing the court order.
The committee alleged that encroachment was taking place with the silent consent of a few Revenue officials who took their own sweet time to conduct inspections when allegations were raised, thus aiding encroachers.
