The New Indian Express              30.01.2014

City Corp Denies Reports on Land Acquisition for SCTIMST

T’Puram: At a time when the people are up in arms against the government’s reported move to acquire land for the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) at Ayiroopara, Mangattukonam and Sasthavattam areas, the City Corporation has denied the reports on land acquisition, saying that they are just rumours.  ‘’The real estate mafia that wants to buy land at cheap rates in these areas is behind such rumours. Once the rumours are spread that land is being acquired for some project, the mafia can prompt the people to sell their land,’’ Mayor K Chandrika told reporters here while speaking on the draft master plan.

 The City Express had earlier reported on the protest brewing among the people. Even though the Mayor claims that all these are just rumours spread by the land mafia, the Action Council formed against the move had alleged that the people in the area knew about the acquisition only days after the notification period ended.

 Meanwhile, councillor G Vinodh, against whom the Action Council had levelled serious allegations of having given the consent for acquiring the land, reiterated that he always stood by the people. ‘’I had suggested to the authorities that a vast stretch of uninhabited land existed adjacent to the specific area mentioned for the Institute. However, the authorities insisted that they wanted this particular area,’’ he said.