Committee finds Adwanapetty uninhabitable

PALAKKAD: The members of the Chengara Package Implementation Committee visited Adwanapetty near Nallasingha Ooru in Attapadi and the land acquired for the Attapadi Valley Irrigation Project (AVIP) inChitoor on Saturday. The members of the committee found Adwanapetty uninhabitable. But, they opined that the Chitoor location was habitable. The land in Chitoor, acquired for the AVIP, was identified by the Revenue Department to given away to the Chengara people in case of finding problems with the Adwanapetty land. As part of the package, 55 families of Chengara were allotted 25 acres of land at Adwanapetty near Nallasingha Ooru in Attapadi initially.  However, the beneficiaries of the Chengara package had alleged that the land was uninhabitable. “Since the place is windy and part of elephant corridor it is not habitable. No tree can grow beyond 5 feet due to the windy nature of the terrain. Only three families had pitched tents and stayed in the area, but now they too have vacated,”said Suresh, one of the beneficiaries of the Chengara package, who was allotted land in Adwanapetty. The members of the committee who visited Attapadi included environmentalist C R Neelakandan, RSP(B) state committee member Reji Kumar, Chengara Baby and Aboobacker. They were accompanied by the Mannarkad Tahsildar Unnikrishnan. The beneficiaries, who got land in Adwanapetty, include 45 scheduled caste and 10 general category families.ENS While the scheduled caste families were entitled for 50 cents of land each, the families from the general category were allotted 25 cents each.