GO asks collector to go ahead with acquisition

Kochi: The state government has issued an order directing the district

collector

to continue with the

land

acquisition procedures for the proposed global industrial finance and trade (GIFT) City in Ayyampuzha.

The order was issued on September 17, four days after approving the environment impact assessment (EIA) report at a hearing convened by Kerala infrastructure investment fund board (KIIFB) special tahsildar .

As per the minutes of the meeting, the panchayat president and other members have demanded authorities to provide employment to those who lose their livelihood due to the project and rehabilitate them.

The order gives permission to continue with procedures to acquire 220 hectares of land under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.

Initially, the project had witnessed strong objection from residents, a majority of them farmers.

“There is open land near the current project site. They could have used it for the project and exempt the houses from being evicted. They could also have exempted the farmlands. But the authorities are adamant to acquire the land. We have not seen the EIA report,” said Jose Chullikkaran, convener of the protest committee against the project.

Now, discussion is going on to exempt 30 houses, which are situated in the project site. Earlier, around 200 houses were identified to be evicted from the site.

The social impact assessment report (SIA), prepared by Rajagiri OutReach also favoured the project.

The report inadvertently admits that there is heavy tree cover in the proposed project site. It called for protection of the environment and perpetuate trees in the affected area in lieu of the destroyed trees.