Legal advice on collector's report soon: Revenue min

KOZHIKODE: Legal advice on Alappuzha district collector's report on alleged encroachment by transport minister Thomas Chandy will be secured without any delay, said revenue minister E Chandrasekharan.

However, the minister, speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of a function here on Tuesday, did not reveal the details about the report or his view on the report. He said that he has conveyed his view on the matter to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and did not want to express it in public.

The disagreement of the revenue minister's party, CPI, with the stand maintained by Thomas Chandy and his party, NCP, over the issue is already known, and it is learnt that the revenue minister is not in favour of Chandy continuing in the post.

The report by Alappuzha district collector T V Anupama had confirmed that the company running the

Lake Palace

resort owned by the minister has indeed violated the rules by filling wetland. The report was directly handed over by the revenue minister to the chief minister.

The CPM secretariat that discussed the issue, had decided to seek a legal opinion in the matter before going ahead with a follow-up action on the basis of the findings in the report.

Meanwhile, opposition leader

Ramesh Chennithala

said that the Pinarayi-Vijayan government was indulging in political corruption by allowing transport minister Thomas Chandy to continue in the cabinet despite the report by the Alappuzha collector confirming the allegations of poramboke land encroachment against him.

"Why chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was not showing the enthusiasm he had shown in securing the resignation of party colleague E P Jayarajan over nepotism charges in the case of Thomas Chandy?," Chennithala asked at a news conference in Kozhikode.

"The chief minister is protecting a lawbreaker in the cabinet which is very shameful. He should explain to the people the reasons why the minister is not sacked yet," he said.

He said that it was mysterious that those who had demanded the resignation of ministers K M Mani and K Babu from the previous

UDF

ministry citing quick verification by the vigilance against them were taking a different stand in Chandy's case.

Meanwhile, BJP workers took out a protest march to the residence of transport minister Thomas Chandy at Chennamkary in Kuttanad on Tuesday. BJP national executive member V Muraleedharan inaugurated the march.

The march organized by Alappuzha district committee of the BJP was blocked by the police around 150m away from the minister's home.

Muraleedharan said that backwater mafia and tourism mafia were destroying the eco system of the state. "The state government is dancing to the tune of these mafias. The party will continue its agitation until Chandy resigns from his post, " he said. The protest meet was presided over by BJP district president K Soman.

Meanwhile, CPI district secretary T J Anjalose demanded the state government to take immediate steps on the report of Alappuzha district collector.

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