Construction activities in progress at Parunthumpara hills under Peerumade taluk in Idukki.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Idukki district administration has imposed Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) on five survey number areas in the Peerumade taluk to prevent illegal construction and land encroachments.

According to officials, District Collector V. Vigneshwari issued prohibitory orders preventing the assembly of people across survey number 441 of Manjumala village, 534 of Peerumade village, and survey numbers 724, 813, and 896 of Wagamon village from March 6 to midnight of May 2. Peerumade tahsildar Seema Joseph has been appointed the executive magistrate to manage the law and order situation.

Ms. Vigneshwari called a high-level meeting of revenue officials on Thursday (March 6) and decided to impose Section 163 with immediate effect. The Collector also appointed a 15-member special team to prevent illegal constructions and encroachments in the five survey number areas of the village.

Strict action

Ms. Vigneshwari said the 15-member team, which is from outside the taluk, had started looking for illegal constructions and encroachments. “Two survey teams have been appointed to check the nature of the land. The team will take strict action if any encroachment or illegal construction is found. After verification, the district administration will take further steps,” said the Collector.

According to sources, the Collector had deputed revenue officials in Peerumade to find the encroachments and submit a report. But the officials refused to even visit the encroached areas in the Parunthumpara hills under the Peerumade and Manjumala villages.

Major threat to lives

Officials said most areas under Wagamon, Peerumade, and Manjumala villages were included in the ‘red zone’ of the landslide susceptibility map. Land encroachments and illegal constructions in these areas pose threat to human life.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by K. Sethuraman, Director, Police Training College, had earlier submitted a report on large-scale government land encroachment at the Parunthumpara hills in Idukki. The report also said that the encroachments and illegal constructions were facilitated by the revenue officials in Peerumade taluk.