Date:04/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/04/stories/2007060413610100.htm

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STF to go ahead with operations

Special Correspondent

STF chief holds talks with Chief Minister

KOCHI: In spite of the CPI throwing the spanner in the works, the Government has no plan to soft-pedal the Munnar operation.

A day after senior CPI leaders harshly criticised the Special Task Force (STF) and the Chief Minister for the ongoing demolitions, especially the tearing down of a portion of the CPI office, the Chief Minister has apparently asked the STF to not to relent. Mr. Achuthanandan, this morning, summoned STF special officer K. Suresh Kumar to the Aluva Palace guesthouse, where he stayed overnight, and was closeted with him for 30 minutes.

Talking to newspersons after the meeting, Mr. Suresh Kumar said regardless of the "politically motivated" criticisms, the task force would go ahead with its work of removing encroachments on Government land.

He asserted that the STF operation was strictly within the law. Also, the force was constantly in touch with senior legal experts, including the Advocate-General and the Supreme Court standing counsel.

Asked whether the CPI's criticism would slow down the operations, Mr. Suresh Kumar said: "Our work is guided by the policy of the Government and not the interests of any political party. The work would go on in accordance with the law, no matter what objections political parties raised."

The Tatas would be served notice on Tuesday to vacate 48 acres of land. It had encroached upon 120 acres of roadside land and the task force had already got two acres vacated, he said. The Tatas had been leased 23,000 acres of Government land for tea cultivation and 17,000 acres for raising fuel wood. (The total land was 57,000 acres.) The resurvey of the land was currently on, though shortage of surveyors had slowed it down a bit.