Elusive title even after 50 years

KOTTAYAM: Vattaparayil Antony George, 70, and Madhavan Kunjappan Palakkunel, 80, migrated from Thodupuzha in the early 1950s to  Mulakuvally and Manippara near Cheruthony in search of better prospects.

Both of them brought lands near Cheruthony. While George’s father sold his four-acre land at Vadakkumbhagom near Thodupuzha  and purchased four acres  at Mulakkuvally in 1958,  Madhavan’s father encroached on  forest land at Manippara.  He has  60 cents of land and a small house in it.  These two are the representatives of a cross- section of  people who  desire to get-title deeds for their land.

In 2015, after  half a century, George has earned reasonably well, whereas Madhavan is still struggling to make both ends meet. Sasi, 51, his son is  paralyzed, and he too has old age ailments. Both are  waiting for the title-deeds.  

“I would like to sell the property and move on to some other places so that I could get  some job. This is the only piece of land which I possess. For that to happen I have to get the title-deeds,”  says Madhavan, who is skilled in constructing old-style walls.   His children Thankamma and Leela are  also with him.

George has  a tourist home in Cheruthony,  in which four of his siblings have share,  and a  paper shop which his sons run.  He had struggled a lot to achieve this. He has  four sons and a daughter, who were married off.   One son is in the Gulf. He could  not  properly educate his children except his daughter who is teaching  in a government higher secondary school in Kattapana.

“We used to walk for 18 kilometres to see a  doctor. It was struggle throughout my life. Is it justified to deny us the title-deed for the four-acre land at Mulakkuvally just because we have some income? What is their logic in denying us title-deeds for our property we purchased in 1958,”  George asked.

The resurvey for the four-acre land at Mulakuvally was completed in 2013, and he believes that the government has some hidden agenda in denying them the title-deeds.

Like them,  thousands of families in Idukki  are anticipating  a fair deal from the government.