Around 2,000 CPM men have grabbed a 1,500-acre stretch of prime government land in Munnar’s Chinnakkanal area, after physically removing 200-odd landless tribal families agitating for pieces of land that were legally granted to them four years ago, but never given.

Hundreds of CPM workers, trucked into the area, on Monday destroyed the huts the tribals had set up and forced them to retreat to a neighbouring hilltop, where they now huddle refusing to go away. The CPM men have fenced off huge pieces of the land and have already begun constructing their own huts and sheds there.

An all-party mediation meeting called by the Munnar Additional District Magistrate (ADM) late in the evening to resolve the issue that threatened to become a big embarrassment for the LDF Government. If the opposition Congress alleged parallels with Nandigram in today’s incidents, the CPI is none too pleased either as the revenue portfolio is held by its leader K P Rajendran.

At the meeting, it was resolved that both the CPM and tribal encroachers would move out of the encroached Chinnakkanal land within 48 hours. The meeting saw heated altercations between workers of the CPI and CPM men. The district officials warned of legal action unless the encroachers left within the next two days.

The tribal representatives at the meeting agreed to move from the encroached land after officials conveyed a government promise to measure and hand over the land they were eligible for beginning tomorrow.

Trouble began last fortnight after the pro-tribal outfit, the Adivasi Rehabilitation Council, occupied the land that the Government had leased to Hindustan Newsprint Ltd. They demanded that the Government hand over the land, for which they had been given title deeds in 2003, when A K Antony was chief minister. They dispersed after local revenue officials assured that this would be done.

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