With the State Committee asking the government to go ahead with the amendment, the LDF has kept yet another prominent promise made in its election manifesto.

The modification of the Act by the Oommen Chandy Government had made it easier to regularize all illegal land fillings. This had had an adverse effect on agriculture, especially cultivation of paddy.

According to Revenue Minister E. Chandrashekharan, the amendment to the Act will be introduced in the State Assembly session beginning on September 26. If that is not possible, then the government will come up with an ordinance at the earliest.

The UDF Government had, it may be mentioned, come up with an amendment to the Act for regularizing all illegal land fillings by paying a fine. The rules were made applicable to all unauthorised reclamation carried out or completed before August 12, 2008 in violation of any existing law.

As per the modification made by the UDF Government, all that was required to legalise an unauthorized land filling was to submit some documents like proof of the ownership of the land, any evidence to prove that the filling was done before the said date and photograph of the illegal filling with a declaration by the land owner to the effect that the land was reclaimed before the said date and an application fee of Rs 500.

The Bill, which will come up before the Assembly will address, among others issues pertaining to uncertainty over houses constructed in the filled wetland that happened before the enactment of the Act. As per the amendment proposed by the LDF, small houses measuring less than 1500 sq ft will be regularized for free For those above 1500 sq. ft, a fine will have to be paid. Another suggestion is that barren fields can be used for cultivating other crops if paddy cultivation is not possible in the area.

Meanwhile, the State Agriculture Department has taken an important decision to turn 483 acres of puncha land in Aranmula, lying fallow for more than to two decades, cultivable. In a momentous decision, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar inaugurated the work to ready the land for cultivation the other day. It may be mentioned that the land had earlier been set apart for the Aranmula airport project, which had kicked up a raging controversy. (IPA Service)