PALAKKAD: The Vigilance Department, which is probing into the Adivasi land acquisition in Nallasingha Ooru of Kottathara village by Suzlon to set up a wind farm, will begin its visits to the ooru next week. During the field visit, the officials will interact with the tribal people.“At present, it has been decided to share the revenue from the wind mills with the tribals. Already, a number of Adivasis has begun to claim the ownership of land. We have in our possession a number of land records and we have to verify the claims of the tribals before taking a final decision,” the DySP (vigilance) Satheesh told Express.In the initial inspection at Agali sub registrar office, it was found that there were discrepancies in 85 land deals, out of the 144 inspected by the Vigilance Department.“Only 155 documents were related to the land which has been resurveyed. The remaining documents were that of unsurveyed land. Therefore, we need to interact with the tribals. We expect to complete the enquiry within three months,” said Satheesh.He said there was land alienation in Kottathara, Sholayur and Agali villages in Attapadi and all these transactions would be enquired.The Vigilance Department officials pointed out that the employees of the village office, who issued possession certificates and those who collected taxes, will also need to be interrogated.They also point out that Suzlon had purchased land from outsiders and not from the Adivasis, which point to the a nexus between the employees of the village office and the persons who purchased land from the Adivasis.“Suzlon Energy has set up the wind farm in 244 acres of land of which 166 acres were Adivasi land. Let the government first decide on the extent of the Adivasi land within the wind farm,“ said the Adivasi Samrakshana Sangham leader Sukumaran, who had a talk with Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan in Thiruvanathapuram two days ago.Sukumaran said that if the Adivasis do not get a fair deal, they would approach Supreme Court.When pointed out that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had stated that Suzlon would be made to share five percent of the revenue from the wind farm with Adivasis, Sukumaran said there was no clarity on the matter."Now, Suzlon had neither land nor windmills, then how can it share the revenue,” he asks. He said that already the Integrated Tribal Development Project officer and the District Collector have given reports that there was alienation of the land belonging to the Adivasis. Moreover,the committee headed by the Chief Secretary has also corroborated this fact, he said. The committee had gone to the extent of recommending the dismantling and removal of all the windmills and related accessories from the site.It observed that it was a clear case of trespass, conspiracy, fraud and cheating. The committee suggested action against the perpetrators under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1985, and the Kerala Restriction on Transfer and Restoration of Land to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1999.The report also says that M/s Sarjan Realities Ltd (which purchased land on behalf of Suzlon Energy) had violated the land ceiling limit under Kerala Land Reforms Act by acquiring 374.48 acres.The committee had found that the documents had been forged in respect of tribal lands. There was the involvement and conspiracy by the employees of the Revenue, Registration, Attapadi Hill Area development Society (AHADS), SC/ST Department along with the middlemen for such transactions.Meanwhile, observers pointed out that now the UDF and the LDF were on the same side of the fence with regard to the matter. At the height of the controversy, former Electricity Minister A K Balan mooted the profit sharing mechanism and now the UDF Government has also toed the same line.
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