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Villagers raze ‘encroaching’ boundary built by PC’s kin

Author: Kumar Chellappan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 13, 2013
URL: http://dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/121824-villagers-raze-encroaching-boundary-built-by-pcs-kin.html

Fishermen in Karikattukuppam Village along the East Coast Road near Chennai on Saturday partially demolished the 300-metre long compound wall built by the family of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The residents of Karikattukuppam, a fishing hamlet, had accused Chidambaram’s family of occupying more than 1.5 acres of land in the village illegally.

 “The compound wall built by them on the encroached land was denying fishermen access to the sea. District officials, including the Revenue Division Officer, had come here and surveyed the land on January 9. They found that the compound wall had been built on encroached land,” Jaya Palayan, founder, South Indian Fishermen Federation, said.

 Palayan and the fishermen of Karikattukuppam have waged a relentless ‘battle’ against the all-powerful Chidambaram family for grabbing land that traditionally belonged to the fishermen of the village.

 “The January 9 survey was based on the petitions and memorandums submitted by us. The district officials found that the wall has been built illegally and told us the same would be demolished within two days. But they remained indifferent, and we suspected some mischief,” said Palayan.                        

 He said the Chidambaram family got an order from the Madras High Court to stay the demolition till January 17. “The district and police officials told us that demolition would be against the court order and asked us to disperse which we obliged,” said Palayan.

 A crestfallen Shanmugam Vinayakam, a local fisherman, said he has lost all faith in the district administration officials who are allegedly helping the Union Finance Minister.

 Chellappa, the Revenue Division Officer, Kancheepuram, who has been active all these months, feigned ignorance about the whole drama. “I don’t know anything. I did not go to the site,” he said.

 Both Palayan and Vinayakam along with hundreds of other fishermen in Karikattukuppam alleged in November last that the Chidambaram family had captured a major portion of Uppankali, a saltwater lake measuring 98 acres and a three-kilometre stretch of seafront along the Bay of Bengal coastline near Chennai. But RR Arun Natarajan, the counsel for the Chidambarams, refuted all allegations and said that his clients had never engaged in land grabbing.

 The annual statement of Assets and Liabilities filed by P Chidambaram in 2012 has mentioned that his family owns agricultural land worth Rs 25 lakh in the area. But the market value of an acre of land in Karikattukuppam is Rs 10 crore. Though Chidambaram claims in the statement that his family owned agricultural land in the area, what this correspondent saw was a dry patch of sandy beach where not a blade of grass grows.

 The Pioneer had carried comprehensive news reports in November 2012 against the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the annual statements of assets and liabilities filed by Chidambaram to the Prime Minister’s Office. But the Minister has been maintaining a stony silence about the issue.

 Palayan said that the pattern of land holding by Nalini Chidambaram looked dubious as there were no details in the documents about the previous owners of the land.  Though Chidambaram’s son Karthi had plans to build a super deluxe resort by name Kaiser Surya Samudra at Muttukadu, it was put on hold following the change of Government in Chennai in 2011.

    
Murugan and Sanjeevi, both residents of Karikattukuppam, alleged that the staff in the village and taluk offices in Kancheepuram was blocking their efforts to find out the details about the real owners of the land in the village.
 
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