Forewarned of a potential electoral fallout, the Oommen Chandy Government has cancelled – in just a week’s time – the permission accorded to two controversial ventures that would have required land-filling of more than 400 acres of wetland.
The State Cabinet, which met on Wednesday, revoked permission to the Kumarakom Eco-Tourism Village project, an initiative of the UAE-based RakIndo Developers Pvt Ltd, at the Metran Kayal backwaters in Kottayam district. RakIndo is a venture of Rakeen, the real estate arm of the Government of Ras al-Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. RakIndo’s other project in India is Kovail Hills, an upmarket integrated township near Coimbatore.
The Cabinet also cancelled the permission granted to the Kochi Medical City Tourism Pvt Ltd to set up a multi-speciality hospital and health tourism facility on the tiny islet of Kadamakkudy on the Kochi backwaters.
The ₹1,300-crore project was proposed by a group of Malayali medical professionals based in Qatar. The firm had acquired 130 acres of land at Kadamakkudy to be developed as a health tourism and health education facility.
Last week, the Cabinet had cleared both the projects, triggering a political controversy. The Opposition had alleged that the projects were cleared through the backdoor as they had not been listed on the Cabinet’s agenda, and that two ministers had taken a personal interest in getting these projects, which would violate the Wetland Conservation Act, cleared. State Congress chief VM Sudheeran had reportedly asked Chandy to reconsider the issue as it would hurt the ruling front in the upcoming polls.