Encroachments along the Thiruvabharanam procession route between Pandalam and Perunad, which have posed a major headache to the Revenue Department for long, are finally being evicted.
District Collector Narasimhugari Tej Lohit Reddy has issued strict directions to the tahsildars, village officers and secretaries of the 11 local bodies through which the path passes to take immediate action to reclaim the encroached land. Revenue Divisional Officers (RDO) in Thiruvalla and Adoor have been tasked with coordinating the evacuation process and evaluating its progress on a daily basis.
The RDOs are required to submit their final report by May 5.
In case of a dispute over an encroachment, the Deputy Director of Survey and the Taluk Surveyor should inspect the site, mark the puramboku land and file a report along with the sketch, said the Collector. The village officers, at the same time, should examine each of the cases and submit a report by detailing the steps taken to evacuate the encroachment.
The Public Works Department, meanwhile, should evacuate the encroachments on the locations under its possession. After clearing the encroachment, survey stones carrying the name of the Travancore Devaswom Board would be erected.
The local bodies, meanwhile, are required to erect fencing in locations already reclaimed to prevent encroachments in future. The cost of erecting the fencing could be met from own funds of the local bodies.
The authorities have identified 259 encroachments along the traditional path across six villages in Kozhencherry taluk, besides 115 encroachments across five villages in Ranni.
Earlier in March this year, the Kerala High Court had issued a strict direction to clear these encroachments by May 15.
