Amendment vital for land conservation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The agricultural and environmental impacts on paddy land conversion may be immense but the government is being inundated with hundreds of applications for such conversions in the state as ambiguity remains in the 2008 legislation intended for effectively curbing it.If the applications currently pending before the state-level monitoring committee are approved, at least another 200 acres of paddy fields will be lost forever further damaging the already fragile wetland ecosystem in Kerala.Many of the applications, to which the Express had an access, are seeking to take advantage of the flawed Land Conversion Legislation Act which equivocally exempts land-filling for 'public purpose'."The act has to be amended immediately. It should be ensured that all the loopholes are plugged", P V Balachandran, member of the state-level monitoring committee for the implementation of the Act told Express. The applications for land filling include requests from government agencies such as the KINFRA, Tourism Department, Cooperative Academy of Professional Education under the Cooperation Department, Public Works Department and others such as the Tirur Cooperative Hospital and Research Centre, Karuveli Padasekharam, Alappuzha.Sources in the state-level monitoring committee said that many such applications, which under no circumstances can be classified as public purpose, have managed to reach the state-level committee after obtaining clearance from the panchayat and the district-level committees."The application for land filling by the Karuveli Padasekharam in Alappuzha shows that the purpose was to construct road to the jetty of a private resort in Alappuzha which is owned by a politician", sources said.Locallevel authorities remain incomprehensibly silent and inactive about it. "The Land Use Act, which prevailed before this Act, enacting was far better compared to this. This Act is widely being misused at the panchayat-level committee. The government's discretionary power is equally being misused. Even if the committee rejects an application, the applicant can appeal to the government using the Rule 10", says Balachandran.According to the Rule 10 in the Act, the government may grant exemption from the provisions of the Act, if such conversion or reclamation is essential for any public purpose."While talking of the public purpose in the Act, clarity should be ensured on how important is that public purpose to that area", says Leena Kumari, director of the state Paddy Mission."The arrest of filling paddy land is not just about food security, but it is affecting overall equilibrium of nature. But bring a law to check this trend of land filling, the government should see that they are facilitating the cultivation and procurement of paddy", she said."The Agricultural Production Commissioner has decided to hold a discussion at the earliest to decide on the clauses in the act to be amended. The decisions of the meeting will be submitted to the government", Balachandran said.