Land grab: farmers' association petitions CM Jayalalithaa

COIMBATORE: The farmers' association on Saturday petitioned the chief minister to remove an encroachment on 70 cents of poromboke land, which also serves as a primary access road to almost 150 acres of land owned by about 20 farmers of Kattampatti village here.
The farmers had obtained a court order in their favour this June. They, however, accused the government officials of providing wrong information to the court and the collector that the encroachment was removed.
According to the farmers' association, around 20 farmers in Kattampati, of Annur Taluk, jointly own around 150 acres of land near the poromboke land, which is the main access to their land."The road is the only access to the farmers' land and 6.5 acres of poromboke land," P Kandasamy, district secretary of armers' association said. "However, there are three farmers, who own land in front of this 150 acres that borders the access way. They have encroached upon the road, cutting access to the 150 acres of land," he added.
According to a case filed by the farmers' association before the high court, the three had encroached upon 70 cents of land. "Their intention is to fully encroach the poromboke land, first by cutting access to it and maybe later forcing the other 20 farmers to sell their land at cheap rates," Kandasamy said.
The high court had issued an order asking the block-level officers and panchayat to remove the encroachment within 30 days failing of which the revenue divisional officers have to remove the encroachment in another 30 days. If not, the collector has to remove it finally. "We filed a contempt petition in high court against government officials as they didn't do anything despite the court's first order coming a year back. It was then that collector Archana Patnaik came into the picture," Kandasamy said.
The farmers alleged that the revenue divisional officer (RDO), Coimbatore North Taluk, P Chinnasami was giving wrong information to the collector stating that all encroachments were removed.
"When the collector ordered the RDO to remove the encroachment, they removed only a small portion. The block on the access way still remains. When we approached the new collector and asked him to look into the issue, the RDO wrongly informed him that there was no encroachment," Kandasamy further said.
The farmers have written to the chief minister to take action against the RDO and to remove the encroachment completely.