Posing a threat to the remaining patches of wetlands and paddy fields in Kozhikode district, a number of private agents and firms are offering services to convert filled wetlands and paddy fields into ‘garden land’ in revenue records. As the price of ‘garden land’ is higher in the market, landowners are increasingly falling victim to such offers.
Such agents have displayed banners along the roads in the district to attract clients. Though it is illegal, no squads have tracked such agents who have even given their contact numbers on the banners.
“Agencies in the field are charging exorbitant commission for their services. Though they claim that they do only the technical part of filling and submitting the application forms through the legal channel, there are many suspicious activities,” says an environmental activist. He also alleges that such agents are getting the help of some government officials for the illegal act.
According to members of some of the leading local environmental forums in the city, filling and land conversion are happening at a very slow pace to avoid public attention and local protests. Many landowners or realtors who had purchased such properties are doing the filling works secretly. A thorough inspection could easily expose such activities, they say.
Revenue department sources make it clear that middle men or agents cannot facilitate illegal conversion of land in records bypassing existing rules and regulations under the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act. Details of people who canvass land owners with false claims should be reported to the department, they add.
They point out that land reclamation activities for residential or public purposes will have to be approved by a specially constituted monitoring committee. Individual applications will be approved after ensuring that the filling work is carried out for the landowner who does not have any other property for house construction, and without affecting the ecology, they add.
