Kerala government to convert 50k acres of forest as revenue land

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government’s controversial move to convert the Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) areas in Idukki district to revenue land has raised several eyebrows.

In a reply to a starred question in the Assembly on April 28,  the details of which came out on Tuesday, Revenue Minister E. Chandrashekharan had informed about the steps being taken to implement the decisions taken at a  meeting on March 27. The controversial decision was taken at the meeting of ministers and  people’s representatives from Idukki convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The copy of the decisions taken at the meeting was also attached with minister’s reply.

Allegations have surfaced that the government was planning to convert 50,000 acres of forest land into revenue land.  On March 27, the chief minster directed officials to examine the issue and take further action.

The CM’s directive came in the wake of the representation submitted by people’s representatives from Idukki on their demands which included changes in affidavits filed during the UDF regime against quarry lobbies, reconsidering the decision to initiate vigilance probe on the basis of Nivedita P. Haran report into the land deals of politicians and exemption for land owned by prominent politicians from Neelakurunji sanctuary.  Interestingly, the chief minister’s directive came close on the heels of the land revenue commissioner’s report that because of political intervention, the officials were not able to enforce the law in Idukki district. Environmentalists alleged that the CM had only posted some of the decisions taken at the March 27 meeting on his Facebook page while keeping controversial decisions under wraps. On that day the chief minister’s Facebook page only mentioned the steps to prevent environment destruction in Munnar, restoring permission to farmers to cut 28 types of trees on their land and the bar on construction of resorts in Munnar. He  had categorically stated that no action would be taken against those who are engaged in farming for decades in that area. He promised to consider farmers’ demands sympathetically.

Many say the government decision was aimed at resolving the land issues of the people residing in Idukki district in a practical manner.  However, environmentalists pointed out that CHR land could not be converted into revenue land without the permission of MoEF. The move is also detrimental to the Ecologically Fragile Land norms. The severe drought being faced by the state should be a warning against such unwise decisions, they said.