Kozhikode: The hopes of the government taking over 330 acres of Mavoor Grasim land have died down as the process was caught in legal wrangles. The previous UDF government had made a futile attempt to take over the land against which the Birla group had secured a stay order. Later, the present LDF government got the stay vacated, but the company again obtained a stay order from the High Court.
Though there were talks between two camps on how to utilise the land in a better way ensuring maximum job opportunities to the people, the state government did not accept the terms and conditions laid down by Grasim Industries for handing over the land.
Mr P.T.A. Rahim MLA, who represents the region, told DC that the government had only one way left. "As the commonwealth of factory of Kozhikode was taken over through legislation, the Grasim land also can be taken over through legislation," he said and added that the Birla Group had been pushing in only 'real estate' projects which was opposed by the state government as it wanted job-oriented projects.
Meanwhile, with dilapidated building structures scattered across the vast area close to Mavoor town, the compound of Grasim looks like a haunted fortress.
The chairman of Tax Payers Association P.T.S. Unni told DC that as the Birla group had failed to utilise the land for the last many years, the government can take over the land. "If the government is determined there will be a way out," he said.
However, legal circles pointed out that though the land was taken over by the state government, it was Grasim Industries that paid compensation for the land owners and it has thus a right over the land. The Grasim Industries, popularly known as the 'Mavoor Gwalior Rayons, ' of Birlas closed down in 2001 after facing a series of agitations by local communities due to many cancer-related deaths in the region. Out of the 330 acres, the Birla group had bought only 82 acres whereas the rest of the land was acquired by the state government for the project.
