Thiruvananthapuram: Two former Thiruvananthapuram district collectors are under the vigilance scanner in connection with the illegal quarrying at Mookunnimala near here.
According to sources, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau recovered documents that point fingers at the lapses by former district collectors K.N. Satheesh and Biju Prabhakar. Though the government had ordered in 2012 that the controversial land should be taken over and attached to the government’s land bank, the two officers allegedly did not act on it. Documents and files to this effect were recovered from the district collectorate and land revenue commissionerate.
While Mr. Satheesh reacted that it was for the land revenue commissioner to include a plot of land in the land bank register, Mr. Prabhakar said that no government order to attach Mookunnimala land to the land bank, had come to his notice. Mr. Satheesh is now serving as Housing Commissioner while Mr. Prabhakar is with the agriculture development farmer’s welfare department.
Meanwhile, the VACB will be filing a detailed survey report of the controversial land to the High Court by next week. The survey by the Vigilance had identified that 106.7 acres of land at Mookkunnimala was encroached by the quarry lobby. The total station survey at Mookkunnimala was done as per the High Court's directive. The Vigilance also had found that about 315 acres of Mookunnimala was forest land.
The local people were up in arms against the illegal quarrying allegedly taking place in the locality.
