Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Floating hotel project sparks row

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM May 13. The renewed construction of a floating hotel resort on the Kovalam canal threatens to re-ignite a popular agitation by residents of the Thiruvallam village who allege that the project has led to large-scale encroachment of the canal.

While the Government maintains that the ambitious project is designed to boost tourism development in the region, the local people allege that it threatens the livelihood of thousands of coir workers in the area. They accuse the resort developer of using the lease agreement as a cover to reclaim a whole stretch of the canal and appropriate public land.

The issue came up for discussion in the Corporation Council on Monday when the Punchakary ward councillor sought the intervention of the civic administration to check the unauthorised construction. He said the resort developers had spread out a net across the foundation for the floating hotels and erected about 100 posts in the canal.

Mr.Sukarno said a section of officials from the Town Planning department who were alerted of the construction had visited the site but failed to take action. Accusing the officials of underhand deals, he said it was a clear violation of municipal laws. The Mayor, J. Chandra, promised to look into the matter.

The issue has the potential to snowball into a confrontation between the City Corporation and the Government. The Corporation Council had invoked the Municipalities Act last year to bring the hotel project within its purview. In April 2002, the council adopted a resolution urging the Government to stop the project and prevent the developers from encroaching into public land.

The Government claims that the floating cottages envisaged in the proposal would not require the local body's permit. The project has been cleared by the Irrigation department, which has administrative control over the water body. But civic officials accuse the Government of sidelining the local body.

The agreement to lease out the canal for the hotel project was finalised by the Government in January last year.

The project envisages the construction of 20 stationary floating cottages on the canal, which stretches from Panathura to Hotel Samudra for over three kilometres.

The Kovalam Canal Samrakshana Samithy comprising coir workers and local people had embarked on an agitation to oppose the hotel project. The five coir cooperative societies in the area employ about 20,000 workers.

Local people allege that the land filling and construction activities were done without the sanction of the Corporation or the Vizhinjam panchayat. They maintain that the portion of the canal used for retting coconut husks was illegally appropriated by the resort developers.

The Government meanwhile avers that it is within its rights to lease out the water body for the hotel project, which involves a huge investment by the developer. The project is part of a comprehensive tourism development package and involves dredging and widening the Kovalam canal to facilitate uninterrupted flow from the lagoon.

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