Minister inspects databank on wetlands

Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash has started inspections into the irregularities that have crept into the databank on paddy fields and wetlands in the district. The minister arrived at the district collectorate here and gathered evidence after visiting various sites.

An emergency meet was also convened with the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Principal Agricultural Officer and tahasildar on the occasion.

“The government has been getting many complaints in this regard.

The existing databank should be rechecked and the site inspection should be completed at the earliest,” Prakash said.

The minister and the Land Revenue Commissioner visited the site near the Seaport-Airport Road where the DLF construction work is progressing.

Documents like the sketch of the area and the basic tax register were also inspected on the occasion.

The minister and the officials also visited the fields in Thengodu and Njarakkuzhi. The locals informed him that floriculture has  been carried out there on a large-scale for four years.

They also told the minister that they had lodged several complaints in this regard.

The minister said that such an inspection was conducted in the wake of rising complaints about the filling up of paddy fields and wet lands. Preparation of a data bank is of prime importance when it comes to Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008.

Though details on paddy fields and wetlands were collected by way of satellite mapping and survey, the complaints in this regard have been on the rise.

“In 1971, there were about eight lakh hectares of paddy field in the state. It has now shrunk to two lakh hectares and has to be preserved at any cost. No one would be allowed to flout the norms introduced by the government to preserve the paddy lands,” the minister said.

It was reported that the government land that was taken on lease was transferred several times in the  district.

 “Instructions have been given to the Principal Secretary to take immediate steps to initiate actions in this regard,” he  added.