High Range Samrakshana Samithi denies revenue minister Adoor Prakash claim
It said no organization from the district had raised such a demand.
KOTTAYAM: The High Range Samrakshana Samithi (HRSS) has rejected the claims of revenue minister Adoor Prakash that the latest government notification on encroachment was issued on the basis of the pressure exerted by organisations including the HRSS.
It said no organization from the district had raised such a demand. “The minister is lying. We haven’t made such a demand ever. We made our demands in public,” HRSS convener Fr Sebastian Kochupurackal told DC.
“Our demands are mostly raised at the all-party meetings and by verifying the minutes of the meetings one can ascertain it. Our only demand is that the title deeds should be granted to one lakh families who possessed land before January 1, 1977”.
He alleged that the latest move to ratify all the encroachments over the last ten years through the amendment in the land assignment rule was to facilitate corruption.
“The HRSS will never support such a move and it is not on our agenda”, he added. Idukki MP Joyce George too echoed the same view saying the Kerala Land Assignment Rule 1954 (5) specifically mentions that "encroachment should only be made on that land which is not objectionable". “The latest amendment is legally untenable,” he said.