Kasargode (Kerala), May 17 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said Thursday he was “delighted” that the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition against the state government’s demolition drive targeting encroachers at the popular hill station of Munnar.
“We decided to evict the encroachers after a long study and we are delighted the way the Supreme Court has given its ruling on the petition today. We are really happy and certainly people of Kerala will salute the verdict,” said Achuthanandan here.
A division bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan denied a stay on the demolition operations as petitioned by the association of resort owners of Munnar.
Earlier this week the Kerala High Court too had denied stay demolitions.
Achuthanandan, who has now earned the tag of a demolition man, has decided to launch a vigilance inquiry into the manner in which government officials have worked to help the encroachers in Munnar.
A Crime Branch probe has already been ordered to look into the criminal negligence that has taken place there.
A three-member team formed by the government last week began its work Saturday pulling down resorts built on public land in Munnar.
On Thursday, it razed down Highland Cottages, a popular resort.
Around 12 cottages have been demolished with the help of heavy equipment while the team aims to pull down about 300 more resorts in the next few days.
Achuthanandan gave the green signal for the demolition drive following Revenue Secretary Nivedita P. Haran’s recommendation. After visiting the hill station April 28, the chief minister said the town had been destroyed by tourist resort mafia that had encroached upon forest land.
Official records show that about 3,500 resorts have come up in the town in the last seven years.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to form a special task force team to probe encroachments elsewhere in the state.
Indo-Asian News Service