Kerala Officer Abused By Minister For Trying To Clear Lands Encroached By Church

Munnar, the much sought after hill station is seething for the last few days with the news of a cross being razed down during an anti-encroachment drive by revenue department officials in the city. Led by junior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Sub-Collector of Devikulam, Sriram Venkitaraman, the drive carried out with heavy security saw a 25-feet tall cross brought down.

The drive which saw many structures in the ecologically sensitive city being served notices has rubbed many politicians the wrong way.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, as reported by The Hindustan Times, ‘expressing strong displeasure over the act’, said “The steps taken by the district administration have resulted in some misunderstanding. A cross which was there was destroyed as part of an anti-encroachment drive,”.

The ruling Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) Idukki district secretary K K Jayachandran expressed unhappiness over the removal of the cross and criticised the officers involved for taking the action. ‘The cross was set up for the faithful to offer worship,’he said, adding that ‘there was no need to remove it’.

Power Minister M M Mani has gone a step further, equating the razing of the cross to that of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, and called the IAS officer ‘mad'. “The razing down of the cross in Pappathichola is equal to the Babri Masjid demolition. The sub-collector is acting as per the instructions of the RSS. No religious institutions have encroached on government land here,” remarked MM Mani, drawing ire from a lot of people. “Devikulam sub-collector Sriram Venkitaraman should be sent to Oolampara," he added. Oolampara is a mental asylum in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Minister's comment, which is one among many such controversial ones he has made of late, has had a lot of people slamming his remarks. “Mani's statement against the young IAS officer leaves literate Kerala in shambles, and he has now become a liability and shame for the state," said former state Congress President A V M Sudheeran.