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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 29 - An emergency meeting of Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front - liaison committee here Friday asked the V.S.Achuthanandan government to take strong steps against all encroachments at the popular Munnar hill station, including by the Tatas.
Ahead of the LDF meeting, the Communist Party of India-Marxist - secretariat met and decided to ensure that a notice is served to Tata Tea, which allegedly built a check dam on eco fragile land at Munnar.
Speaking to reporters after the LDF meeting, LDF convenor Vaikom Viswan said the check dam constructed by Tata Tea is against the rules.
'This has to be removed and the government has been asked to take appropriate steps. Since the last eviction operations of the government, it has come to light that several encroachments have again taken place at Munnar. We have asked the government to see that all such encroachers are evicted,' he said.
Meanwhile, Tata spokesman T.Damu, participating in a TV debate, said that the company has done no wrong.
'All what we did was some maintenance because what existed there was constructed several decades back. Due to the aging construction, we just did maintenance work and when we did it, we did it properly,' he said.
Set 2,500 feet above sea level, Munnar in Idukki district is often called the 'tea town' of Kerala because it has more than 50,000 acres of tea estates, first owned by James Finlay and Company. Changing hands a few times since then, it is now with Tata Tea since 1983.
Even though Chief Minister V.S.Achuthanandan took the lead by demolishing several plush resorts way back in 2007, this was done without going through the mandatory procedures and as a result, cases piled up at the high court.
Munnar was back in the news when in one of his last judgments ahead of retirement last week, Kerala High Court's Chief Justice S.R.Bannurmath lashed out at the Achuthanandan government and said that 'green' Munnar has now become 'brown' Munnar because of widespread encroachments by the rich and mighty.
Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy visited Munnar Thursday and said the Achuthanandan government has failed miserably in containing encroachments.
The opposition has asked the government to see the issues of settler farmers and encroachers separately, and urged it that the farmers who are in possession of less than four acres of land which they are holding on or before July 1977 should be treated differently and should be given title deeds.
Viswan said that in Idukki district, there is a lot of land which has been given on lease to various people and they are now waiting to hear from the apex court on a few cases that are pending before it about the rights of the settler farmers.
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