Coast Guard to acquire 26 acres of wetland owned by Sunni Markaz
Mangrove forests in Arayidathu palam area. (Photo: DC)
KOZHIKODE: A major land scam is brewing in Kozhikode where real estate businessmen-turned-politicians and a Union Government agency are allegedly working hand in glove with a private land owner to siphon off public money to the tune of Rs 258 cr. The Coast Guard has requested the district administration to give it 26 acres of land near the Planetarium in the heart of the city which is owned by Karanthur Sunni Markaz.
The Karanthur Sunni Markaz seems to be the sole beneficiary of this acquisition as the area does not offer any strategic advantage to the Coast Guard. On the other hand, Markaz is happy to dispose of this land as it cannot use it for any commercial purposes as 40 per cent of the land area is a thick mangrove forest, which forms part of one of the five scheduled mangrove forests in the State. The Coast Guard’s interest in this land has raised the suspicion that there could be the possibility of kickbacks in this deal.
The signs of conspiracy and possible corruption are evident in the official notes of this acquisition file, which have been accessed through RTI. Several official level objections have been bypassed and the former District Collector had prescribed a land rate which was much higher than the market rate in the particular area.
The Coast Guard went ahead with the acquisition request without publishing the notification and the move was temporarily dropped when the Deputy Collector objected to it.
“They came back soon after publishing a notification and re-applied for acquisition. The district administration is under a lot of political pressure to go fast on the acquisition procedure. There seems to be a conspiracy brewing to benefit a private party by helping him sell his land to the Coast Guard at inflated rates,” said Ravi Ulliyeri, a social activist who had taken out the files through RTI.
He said the Coast Guard could not come up with a convincing reason for choosing a private mangrove forest area for constructing their buildings when the Government had acres of vacant land available in the coastal area between Kozhikode and Vadakara.
When contacted, a senior collectorate official said the acquisition process had now been put on hold for want of a social impact assessment report. “We have asked them for a social impact assessment report. No social impact assessment has been done so far. But there is pressure to fast track the acquisition process and the State Government has given its nod,” the official added.
( Source : dc )
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