Kumarakom village panchayat in Kottayam district has issued a notice to a luxury resort, linked to Rajya Sabha MP and NDA’s Kerala vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar, accusing it of encroaching on government land, an allegation Chandrasekhar has denied. The panchayat has asked the resort management to dismantle buildings and adjoining walls on the contentious land. Spread over 8 acres adjacent to Vembanad lake, the Rs 75-crore resort project — Niraamaya Retreats — is owned by Chandrasekhar’s Jupiter Capital. Calling the notice an effort to “intimidate” him, Chandrasekhar, in a statement issued in New Delhi on Saturday, said, “This is not the first time I am a target of political violence or political lies and attacks. This is an obvious sloppy attempt to distract from the recent embarrassment of a sitting Left Minister who had encroached public land.and about CM Pinarayi Vijayan government’s track record on corruption and governance with 3 ministers having to resign in just over a year.” Read | Village panchayat orders dismantling of resort owned by Kerala NDA vice-chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar was referring to NCP leader Thomas Chandy’s resignation as Kerala Transport minister on November 15. The CPI(M)-run panchayat’s decision on Friday to issue the notice came a day after a group of DYFI workers allegedly vandalised the resort, claiming it had encroached on wasteland. A case has been registered against 20 people on charges of damaging half-a-dozen cottages in the resort and damaging furniture. In 2008, Niraamaya Retreats had got mandatory sanctions from Kumarakom village panchayat for the project. In 2013, local residents, under the banner of Jana Samparaka Samithi, alleged that dumping of waste will pollute the waterbody. While the panchayat issued a memo to stop construction, the company got a stay from the High Court. The court later directed the Revenue Department in Kottayam to probe the allegations. On Friday, the department identified the stated encroachment, and the panchayat issued the notice. Panchayat secretary Vishnu Namboothiri said, “The project was issued building permit in 2009 but no one had complained then. When the encroachment became an issue, we decided to act on it.” Niraamaya Retreats CEO Manu Rishi Guptha claimed that the survey could not identify any encroachment. “The allegation of encroachment of stream is vehemently denied because the embankment wall was built by the Irrigation Department 25 years ago. Mutation records and duly executed sale deeds, all of which are available with the Revenue Department, are in accordance with the ‘Torrens’ survey and re-survey records.”
