A two-day quick field survey under the panchayat committee has been completed in the 49 villages as part of submitting the final report on the ecologically fragile areas in the district.
A temporary subdivison number was given to agriculture land under the forest survey number, a press release said on Friday. The report, which was finalised on Friday, will be submitted to the field survey directorate office at Thiruvanathapuram. The disputed areas in the panchayats were visited by the committee consisting of the village officer, panchayat secretary, forest ranger, and agriculture officer.
The final report will be submitted on the basis of the quick verification. In areas where the forest and agriculture land are interlinked, subdivision boundary with footnotes will be given in the final report. District Collector V. Ratheesan said that community and individual rights and development concerns would be addressed in the Adivasi settlements that fall under the ecologically fragile areas.
New map not ready
All the disputed areas are being surveyed by the panchayat committee after going through the prescribed criteria. The areas are surveyed on the basis of old taluks and panchayats and the land documents under them. This is because the boundary map of the new taluks and panchayats were being prepared, he said.
Joice George, MP, said that there was a concerted move in the national- and State-level to torpedo the Oommen V. Oommen report and implement the Kasturirangan report. He said the Centre had agreed to remove farmlands and human habitations from the final report after sustained pressure.
He said he had discussed the issue with Union Minister for Environment Prakash Javadekar. He alleged an attempt to block the Union government’s favourable stand on the issue. District Congress Committee president Roy K. Paulose said there was no concern over the Kasturirangan issue and the Idukki MP and a group of people were spreading fear among people. He said there was a campaign before the Lok Sabha election that the Oommen V. Oommen report was a farce. He said the quick verification survey was only a follow-up of it and the survey number was given on the basis of the map of the Oommen V. Oommen report.
Committee visits disputed areas
Survey based on old taluks, panchayat documents
