Title - Wetland twist for Kochi’s Metro tale

KOCHI: The ways of our bureaucracy can be quite bizarre. So after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) started filling the paddy land at Muttom for the Metro yard, the land revenue department has initiated steps to get the project exempted from the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act!

The decision was taken at the state watershed committee meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram last week.

“Since the Metro project is a prestigious project, measures will be taken to clear all issues at the earliest. Records with village offices state that some of the areas on Metro’s path fall under the category of wetlands.

Authorities will issue sanctions without delay,” said a senior official with the land revenue department. Some of the areas identified for Metro stations at Companyppady, Pathadippalam, Edappally, Palarivattom, Kaloor, Lisie Junction, Maharaja’s College ground and areas identified at Muttom for the construction of Metro yard are listed as wetlands.

According to the district administration, clearance from the land revenue department is required to start land acquisition for large-scale construction activities.

The administration had provided a report on wetlands to the agriculture, land revenue and transport departments.

Meanwhile, as per the city development plan (CDP), a vision document published by the Kochi corporation, many of the arterial roads of the city, including MG Road, was once a large wetland. So was Banerji Road and the strip of land west of Shanmugham Road.