Eco groups seek action against encroachers

PALAKKAD
The Hindu, January 3, 2007
Environmental organisations here have demanded the State Government to take immediate steps to evict encroachers from Anthimahakalankadu vested forest in Ottapalam forest range, one of the main watershed areas of the Bharathapuzha.

In a statement here on Tuesday, the Bharathapuzha Samrakshana Samithi (protection association) general secretary Indanur Gopi said the Government, in a counter affidavit filed before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on a public interest petition, had said that the area would be protected under the ecologically fragile land Act, 2006.

The association filed the petition in 2004. The court recorded the assurance of the Government on November 25, 2006 and disposed it of.

As part of the implementation of the court order, the forest area was surveyed and 2.9 hectares of forest land found encroached, the statement said.

Anthimahakalankadu, an ecological hotspot spanning 190 hectares, were taken over from an erstwhile landlord under the Kerala Private Forests (Vesting and Assignment) Act, 1971. It was notified as vested forest item no. 74 in 1974.

On survey, it was found that some of the land was encroached. In various cases, the courts ordered restoring of 40 hectares of the forest to private parties. These areas were taken over by the Forest Department under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Sensitive Lands) Ordinance of 2000.

Charge against officials

Janajagratha, in a separate statement here, alleged that some forest officials seemed to have connived with the encroachers.

Janajagratha secretary P.S. Panikkar said the authorities should demolish the building on encroached forest. The Kerala Forest Act, 1961, said that if there was encroachment, including construction of shed or any other structures, these should be demolished. The Forest Department should register cases against the offenders and produce them before the court. But in this case, no action was taken.

The forest officials here said that they had filed cases against an engineer, two supervisors and a worker and arrested them for encroaching upon forest land and constructing structures. A case was filed against them in the Ottapalam magistrate court, where the accused were produced on December 23.