Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran CPM leader V. S. Achuthanandan on Friday said resort mafia and a section of political leaders were responsible for major encroachments in Munnar.
He was inaugurating a cultural meet organised by Yuva Kala Sahithi. “Munnar encroachments continue to dominate discussions in the social and political spheres. Thousands of acres of land in the hill station have been encroached by many including Tata. There are small encroachers who take over government land, fabricate documents and sell off the land. In most cases, resort mafia is behind such illegal activities,” he said.
He said unchecked encroachments had destroyed Munnar to a large extent. “The illegal construction activities happening in ecologically sensitive areas have already taken its toll on the nature. But the mafia has set its eyes only on making profit by plundering nature,”
Achuthanandan said most Malayalis were hesitant to react strongly against plunder of earth, sand mining, , reclamation of paddy land, destructin of stereams and ponds. ““When people like me launched agitation 25 years ago citing these dangers, we were branded as vetti neruthal kaar,” he said and added, ‘today we are facing the consequences.’
The veteran said LDF government had intervened strongly in Munnar to remove encroachments. However, the government could not take forward the operation owing to various reasons.
