The Kerala government on Wednesday abruptly transferred an IAS officer who reportedly acted against the land mafia in the state’s finance capital, Kochi, reported Malayala Manorama. This has come less than two months after the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government faced public ire for its alleged targeting of another IAS officer, Sriram Venkataraman, who was on a mission to evict encroached land in the hill station of Munnar.
According to the report, Fort Kochi sub-collector Adeela Abdulla, who has been transferred to the Life Mission programme, had identified illegal encroachment worth Rs 60 crore in various parts of the city and begun the process of eviction. She had also denied permission to convert seven-and-a-half acre water body for building flats in Mattancheri region of the city.
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The transfer decision was taken as an item outside the agenda of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
Sources say that the eviction drive was an important move as the district administration lags behind in slum rehabilitation works in the city due to non-availability of land.
The Manorama report adds that the ruling CPI(M)'s local leadership had asked the state government to transfer Adeela as in the case of Devikulam Sub-Collector Sriram Venkataraman. A decision on Venkataraman is, however, pending as the government fears backlash due to the issue gaining much media attention.
Amidst reports of the state government and theCPI(M) targeting Venkataraman for his action against the encroachers, Kerala minister MM Mani had added fuel to the controversy by accusing him of conspiring with the RSS.
