Conveniently ignoring the thousands
of acres of government land illegally held by private individuals and
institutions, the Revenue Department is gearing up for a mega bash,
Bhoomigeetham, in Kochi to raise money for buying private land for its
ambitious 'Zero Landless' project.
Despite retrieving government land,
which may come to 5000 to 10,000 acres of land in each district as per revenue
sources, the government has become a laughing stock with the mega show titled
‘Bhoomigeetham’ to be held first at Ernakulam on August 31 and later at every
district headquarters. According to revenue sources, about 2,500 acres of
public land that could be taken back are spread over Nedumangad, Palode and
Ponmudi regions in Thiruvananthapuram district, about 4,000 acres in
Nelliyampathy and Chittor areas in Palakkad. In Munnar and Devikulam
areas in Idukki, more than 5,000 acres are in the illegal possession of many.
The same is with Wayanad, which according to unofficial records stands at
about 4,000 acres of illegal possessions.
Lands that have completed lease
period and those that violated lease agreement, encroached lands, surplus lands
that are not entangled in legal or other issues, Escheat lands (land which has
no inheritors) and Bought-in-Land (authority of land that lies with the various
departments) could have been earmarked for providing titles deeds to the
landless. The government is conducting a Mega Show at a time when even surplus
lands are being allotted in the name of private institutions. The officials
maintain that the government does not have the courage to take back the land
from major encroachers.
The officials also alleged that the
government by not retrieving land in the illegal possessions for such an
ambitious project was only helping land grabbers. Instead of buying land from
private holders, the money collected from the mega shows could have been used
for building houses for the landless, the said and added it could have saved
the face of the government.
However, Revenue Minister Adoor
Prakash said that the Mega show was conceived, aimed at the participation of
the entire society in the zero land less project. ''There can be many
criticisms about conducting such a show. The money that is collected
through the mega shows will be used for the Zero Landless project,'' he
said.
Noting that identifying land was the
first priority of the government, Prakash said that only 10,000 acres of land
was now needed as per the records for providing land to the applications
received. And here the officials note that if the government was stern,
10,000 acres was not that difficult.
source: The New Indian express
