Did not encroach upon govt land, says Congress MLA

Kochi Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on Wednesday denied that he encroached upon the government land as part of his resort in Chinnakanal in Idukki district.

“I want to make it very clear that after I bought this property, I have not encroached upon an inch of additional land or built a boundary wall. The property does not have a boundary wall. It is a tourism facility located in an open space. It’s a false allegation that I built a wall around it,” said the first-time MLA.

His statement comes after reports that the state revenue department would move ahead to recover his excess land.

According to local media reports, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had found evidence of the MLA having encroached upon 50 cents of ‘puramboke’ (unassessed government land) adjacent to his property.

Officials familiar with the matter said, the district collector has granted approval to recover the excess land based on a report submitted by the land revenue tehsildar.

However, Kuzhalnadan claimed that he had built a wall around the property and said, he had merely reinforced a protection wall which was in a dilapidated condition.

“The property sits on a steep slope. Many years ago, perhaps to prevent the buildings from tipping over, a protection wall was built. But when it got eroded over time, we were forced to reinforce the protection wall with concrete. If we had not done it, the buildings on top would have come crashing down,” he added.

The Congress legislator said, he was not someone who would ‘panic’ on hearing that the government would take away a portion of the land he owns.

“Even if they take away 50 acres of my land, I will not move back an inch. You cannot threaten me like that. I am a farmer’s son and farmers have self-respect. I have not made money by encroaching upon lands or through bribery,” he stated.

Kuzhalnadan claimed that he was being targeted by the state government for raising allegations of corruption and bribery against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, Veena T, in connection with the latter’s suspicious financial transactions with a Kochi-based minerals company. The MLA has submitted a request to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe the transactions between Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, owned by Veena, and CMRL, a minerals firm.