Minister turns on the heat ahead of Munnar meet today

IDUKKI: Ahead of the high-level meeting called by the chief minister on Sunday to discuss widespread encroachment in Munnar, revenue minister E Chandrasekharan raised the stakes by explicitly mentioning in the assembly the illegal land held by Devikulam MLA and CPM leader S Rajendran.
Even as the stage appeared set for another round of public confrontation between ruling front partners CPM and CPI on the issue, the Idukki district administration submitted a list of encroached land at Munnar and nearby areas to the revenue minister on Saturday.The list reveals not just the disturbing extent of the encroachment but also the ease with which it has been perpetrated.
The list shows that purambokes (government land), including road purambokes, river purambokes, shola areas, KSEB, revenue, PWD and forest lands too have been encroached. The main encroachers, apart from individuals, feature several religious organisations as well as local CPM committees.
Major individual encroachers include Lijeesh Lambodaran, son of power minister M M Mani's brother, Jimmy Zakaria, Boby Zakaria and Tissin Thachankary, brother of ADGP Tomin J Thachankary.
Rajendran, meanwhile termed the revenue minister’s charges as part of a conspiracy. “The revenue minister has misled the assembly. Revenue officials misled him about this issue …. The minister did not study the issue in detail and merely read out in the House the statement prepared by revenue officials,” Rajendran told reporters in Munnar. In 2015, the state land revenue commissioner submitted a report to the state government stating that Rajendran was illegally occupying the land.