District Collector H. Dinesan has said that strong action will be taken against those indulging in land-filling in the sugarcane fields of Marayur to resell it as house plots.
After visiting the land-filled areas on Sunday, he said that he came to notice about the land-filling through media reports and the sugarcane fields has been filled under the cover of relaxation given to the farm owner to fill a maximum 10 cents of land in case of construction of a house for living.
Its location near Munnar attracted outsiders to buy land plots to construct resorts, he said.
Mr Dinesan also said that a direction would be issued to the Devikulam sub-registrar officer not to allow registration of the land already filled.
He also said that Devikulam Subcollector Renu Raj has been directed to inquire into it and submit a detailed report.
The illegal filling of the land would prevent the natural water stream and the area would experience scarcity of drinking water, he said adding that illegal land-filling will not be allowed in Marayur.
Water scarcity
The scarcity of water was the reason for shifting paddy cultivation to sugarcane in Marayur over the years, sources said.
