VS demands action against encroachers

Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan Tuesday asked the party-led LDF government to take stern action against the "land mafia" indulging in encroachments at the tourist town of Munnar in the hilly Idukki District.

The encroachers should be evicted, Achuthanandan, who is the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission, said in a statement here.

Apparently referring to the reported remarks by CPIM MLA S Rajendran against officials who took action against the encroachers, the nonagenarian leader said it was the state government's duty to control the 'land mafia'.

Officials who try to evacuate encroachers would have the support of the government and people, Achuthanandan, who had taken strong measures to retrieve public land in Munnar when he was the Chief Minister till 2011, said.

He also accused Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, of adopting an 'anti-encroachment' stand and asked whether even an inch of encroached land had been recovered during the regime of Congress led UDF government.

"Congressmen were behind most of encroachments in that region", Achuthanandan alleged.

He said LDF government did not view the settlers and encroachers on similar lines. People who live in that region for decades were not encroachers, he said.

The Marxist leader said encroachment of public land was not limited to Munnar alone. "Water bodies, rivers and even sea sides" were encroached upon.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had yesterday said the government would bring restrictions on building tourist resorts in Munnar and take stringent action against encroachments.

Vijayan had also rejected allegation against Rajendran that the MLA had threatened the revenue officers concerned.