CPI (m) District Secretary Idukki CV Varghese visiting the area in Thommankth on Friday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
It seems that the removal of the cross in Thommankth in Idukki escalated into a political discussion after the report of officer Vannappuram that the area in question is forest land.
Congress districts and the Indian Communist Party (Marxist) leading districts criticized the income and forest department for handling the matter
The forest department 12. April removed the cross built by the Church of Sts. Thomas in Thommankth, under the church of Syro-Malabar, on the land next to the Neyyassery-Thokkumban road in Naranganama the previous day. The department also booked the case against the parish priest Thommankth for accusing the position of the cross on the forest country.
Officer of the village Vannappuram subsequently submitted a report by the Kaliyar Range Forest officer that the place fell into the forest land.
The report triggered controversy with congress and locals who accused the government of attempting to re -classify income land without a charter as a forest land.
“The land declared by the forest department has not been included in the common verification state and is therefore invalid,” said the General Secretary of the District Congress Bijo Mani.
On June 2, 2020, he also pointed to the reception order that allows documents for land for the land outside the designated forest area. “Certification of land as a forest of a village officer without thorough verification is suspicious,” he added.
The district secretary of CPI (M) CV Varghese also criticized the report and said that the village official had no power to declare the land as a forest.
“The statement of the Ministry of the Forest Department that the soil is forest land is unfounded. Neither the government nor the party allow the human settlement to be unjustly categorized as forest land,” he said.
CPI (m) announced a protest march to the village office Vannappuram 8 May.
Forest officials, however, claim that the cross was installed in the Naranganam area in Thommankth, part of the Thodupuzha forest, which was bordered in 1902. “The cross was built in a reserve forest where no construction is permissible. The forest department is obliged to prevent further interference,” the official said.
The official noted that there was no joint verification between the departments of forests and income.
Published – April 26 2025 20:55
