Protection wall of CPM Area Committee Office in Santhanpara demolished by party

Thodupuzha: A portion of the protection wall of the controversial Santhanpara Area Committee Office of CPM in Idukki was demolished on Monday following a Revenue Department finding that it was encroaching on poramboke land. Poramboke are unassessed lands which are the property of the government. A portion of the wall which was marked by the Taluk Surveyor was demolished.

The District Collector had recently rejected the mandatory no objection certificate (NOC) for the controversial CPM office which is a four-storey building with 4000 sq ft. In August last year, the controversial building which is in the name of CPM district secretary C V Varghese was in the news as the party allegedly conducted work for the completion of the building though the High Court had directed to halt the work as it was being constructed without being authorised.

In light of the NOC application submitted to the Collector, a survey was also conducted at the site of the Santhanpara party office and it was found that 12 sq m of the building was constructed on land which does not have a title deed. 48 sq m of land belonging to road poramboke was also found to be in the possession of the party. The office is situated by the Kumily-Munnar highway.

The title deed for the land where the building is situated is given as per Land Assignment (LA) Rules 1964 and only residential buildings up to 1000 sq ft could be allowed on LA Land. Santhanpara Village officer issued a stop memo against the construction of the office to the concerned CPM functionary on 25.11.2022. However, the party continued the construction and the building was almost completed in August last year.