THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM secretariat has iterated its support for Idukki district unit on Munnar issues and hoped that people will not get carried away by propaganda. It said efforts of Idukki district committee to protect interests of settlers are being wrongly portrayed to divert the attention from Pinarayi Vijayan government's efforts to distribute title-deeds and relief to farmers. Veteran CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan had the other day welcomed M.M. Mani's statement on the Tata land and urged the government to recover the land which comes to about 50,000 acres.
Meanwhile, the secretariat said that several issues concerning Munnar land issue were being discussed actively at different levels. The chief minister had already made his views clear on the issue. While environment and ecology needs to be conserved, the interests of people residing in the district had to be protected as well. The government was moving ahead with this balanced approach. CPM secretariat admitted that the land issues related to Idukki district were complicated and there was a need to find lasting solution. Even the process of giving title deeds to all families who possessed land prior to cut off date of January 1, 1977, has not been completed yet.
This is the reason why even SC/ST families who possess five or ten cents of land are being portrayed as encroachers, it said. There is a need to initiate action after making a clear distinction between settlers and encroachers. One cannot apply the same yardstick for encroacher who is building multi storey structures with profit motive and the poor who have constructed houses in three or four cents. The secretariat said the LDF government was currently taking decisions based on this approach. The chief minister has already declared that strong action would be taken against encroachments and unauthorised structures. However, the government cannot act against those living there for decades just on the basis of propaganda. It said the government had decided to curb the growing number of resorts in Munnar. The resorts should be proportionate to the requirement of accommodation in the hill station.
