ALAPPUZHA: The District Administration's anti-encroachment drive in the six taluks

under its jurisdiction is gaining momentum with nearly 1,000 notices served on those who have usurped Government land.

Eviction procedures against around 30 per cent of these were either complete or in process while the rest were given the mandatory three-days time to move out on their own.

More lists of encroachments supplied by different village offices were being verified.

`Kayal encroachment'

Over 350 cases of encroachment of Government land or `kayal' fields under 13 village offices were reported from the Ambalappuzha taluk.

Out of these, 256 were served notices while verification of the rest of the reports was being done, Ambalappuzha Additional Tahasildar P.H. Abdul Gafoor said.

The Ambalappuzha special task force had to postpone its efforts to evict portions of a resort near Kalavoor on Monday after the issue ended up in the Munsiff Court here. A decision is expected on June 1. The STF is also preparing to deal with encroachments at the Mannanchery police outpost, where policemen had brought several encroachments to the notice of the authorities.

Meanwhile, the notice served on the Lake Palace resort owned by Kuttanad MLA Thomas Chandy is likely to be revoked after it turned out that the bridge and boat jetty that the resort had constructed were done so with the `valid permission' of the Irrigation department, for which the resort was paying necessary taxes too.

The structures therefore could not be considered encroachments, official sources said. Karthikapally Tahasildar Nooruddin Kunju and his team served 420 notices so far, out of which 155 were already evicted. Three resorts were among those given the three-day deadline.

In Chengannur, around 125 notices were served, Tahasildar T.P. Sumathikuttyamma said. According to Cherthala Tahasildar V.C. Kabir, 78 notices were served in that taluk. The action taken here included the eviction of Government land encroached upon by the Marari Beach Resort among others.

All the roadside encroachments in Cherthala town were identified and the details handed over to the Public Works Department for further action, Mr. Kabir said.

Minor encroachments

In Kuttanad taluk, Tahasildar A. Mohammed Najeeb said 268 notices were served so far.

Nearly 250 of these were minor encroachments. In Mavelikkara taluk, 21 notices were served so far while 56 reports of encroachment were being verified and notices being prepared.

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