Wetland Act creates a sticky situation

KOCHI: Lack of coordination among the authorities concerned and the ambiguity in the provisions under the State government’s Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008 have put many people in a complicated situation.This initiative was then taken to preserve paddy fields and other cultivable land.While, the authorities continue to accuse the real estate mafia for not following the Act, it is the laymen who had been facing problems because of it.Shyamala Aravindan, a resident of Puthrukka Panchayat, had bought five cents of land in the panchayat to build a house.An order to stop the construction work of the house, which was nearing completion, came as a rude shock to Shyamala and her husband Aravindan.They have been told that the committee which deals with the wetland issue had issued instructions to stop the work as the land fell under the category of wetland and the construction of house was against the provisions of the Wetland Act.The instruction was issued to the previous land owner from whom Shyamala and Aravindan purchased the land.Aravindan said that he had approached authorities several times but to no avail.“We did not know anything about the Act.The authorities who had permitted earlier also did not hint at this.We have spent the hard earned money on it and the construction work was almost over.This abrupt stoppage of construction work has dashed all our hopes.We do not own land other than this in any part of the state.The village officer has also certified this,” he said.Though the Collector has called for the report, the Agriculture Officer is yet to submit it.When asked, the Agriculture Officer said that the Village Officer had already issued a stop memo.However, Aravindan said that they have not received any such memo from the village officer.In another incident, Vinoy Verghese, a resident of the Vengola Panchayat, had been knocking at the doors of the authorities to begin a small business establishment on the land he bought a few years ago.To his surprise, another person who bought the land along with him from the same owner in the same block could start plywood industries despite the initial legal hassles he had to face.“His request was rejected at the outset citing that the land was classified under wetland.But, later he got the approval of the authorities. When I approached the authorities for the same, I did not get a favourable response. Hence, I sought the help of the tribunal for the local bodies at Thiruvananthapuram which gave a verdict in my favour.But the panchayat is yet to respond positively to the verdict,” he said. Vinoy said that as the Vengola Panchayat was not cooperating, he approached the District Collector who convened a hearing with the RDO, agriculture officer and the panchayat secretary.When asked, Vengola Panchayat president M M Avaran said that such an issue has not come into his notice.