THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Nearly one year after the then district collector sent a detailed road map for land acquisition, the state government is yet to give nod to acquire land at Vellayani. As per the detailed survey carried out by revenue department, around 625 farmers owned 87.19 hectares of land in Vellayani. Even though it remains submerged under the lake, holistic lake conservation efforts can’t progress unless they are recompensed. While environmentalist under a protection council lobbied for urgent lake conservation, there was no further move in this regard.
“Once government gives a nod, district administration can fix a compensation package. However, unlike a road acquisition these projects get a step-motherly treatment from the finance department. This is a matter of conserving a lake that was expected to feed the south-western part of Thiruvananthapuram for hundreds of years,” said Rajesh Kumar an environmental activist.
As per estimates the lake which was 756 hectares in 1926 has been reduced to 400 acres by 2016. Around 33 encroachments totalling around 1.9 acre were also detected during a recent study. The lake was also being threatened by sewage pollution. Government had in 1957, 1967 and 1977 gave away over 200 acres of land with title deeds in order to promote paddy cultivation (puncha krishi) in district. Later, the paddy cultivation has stopped and most of the land was submerged under water.
