Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan on January 24 (Wednesday) claimed that he has not encroached upon any public land in the Chinnakanal area of Idukki district of Kerala where he owns a resort.
The Congress MLA from Muvattupuzha said that he came to know through news reports that the Vigilance has found that he has encroached upon 50 cents of land adjacent to his resort and the same has been accepted by the Revenue department.
He also said that according to news reports, an order has been issued for recovery of the excess land allegedly encroached upon by him.
The Congress leader said that while he would defend his rights, if it was found that he had encroached upon excess land, he would give it up.
"However, I am not going to run around in panic due to such moves. I will not be scared or deterred from the steps I have taken by such actions," the MLA said.
He was apparently referring to his allegations of irregularities in transactions of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter's firm with a Kochi-based company.
It was following his allegations against the Chief Minister’s daughter’s firm that the government began looking into his resort property at Chinnakanal.
Denying the encroachment allegations, Mr. Kuzhalnadan told reporters at a press briefing in Idukki that he has “not taken over even an inch of public land.”
"I have not encroached upon any public land in excess of the resort property purchased by me," he added.
Protective wall
He said that one of the reported allegations against him was that he had built a wall around the encroached area and he contended that there is no wall around the entire resort property.
The MLA said that he only "reinforced" a portion of an ages-old protective wall, on one side of the property, that was in a dilapidated condition.
"I was forced to reinforce the wall as otherwise there was a possibility of the entire property crashing down onto the road. I do not know if that is the wall they are referring to. I have not seen the Vigilance report or the decision taken by the Revenue department," Mr. Kuzhalnadan claimed.
