Kerala CM declares war on Tatas, their land

Promising to “reclaim every bit of government land” from the company in the hill resort, Achuthanandan said he would “stop at nothing” until his government took back over 50,000 acres. The land, he alleged, had been grabbed by the Tatas.

After segregating ecologically sensitive land, the rest of the reclaimed land will be forked out to landless labourers and the homeless poor, he said, describing the drive as “a historic initiative” to bring to Munnar the state’s 37-year-old land reforms programme.

Achuthanandan warned the Tatas that if they tried to obstruct the government bid through courts, the tea company may be left with no land at all. “The government will consider taking back the leased land as well as that the Tatas possess if they try to hinder this effort through the court or by other means,” he said.

A company advisor said they had nothing to do with the 1119 acres of land that the CM and his official set out to “recapture”.

“It’s a poor propaganda stunt. The land they reclaimed today is nothing but virgin forest with no plantation at all, and it was clearly vested with the Forest department way back in 1971. We have nothing to do with it,” said T Damu, advisor to the Tata group. Damu said there was no reason to move the courts yet “but we consider the threat to take away our legally leased land if we go to court as an insult to democratic values.”

K Sureshkumar, head of the Munnar task force, maintained that the land was under the control of the Tatas. “The issue is not whether or not this is Forest department land. Our findings indicate that this land was in the company’s control. Why else did they put up their board there?” he asked, referring to the company board that the CM got removed.

... contd.