Kalpetta, Friday 14 January 2010: Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy has alleged that the State government is cheating the tribal community by adding three clauses to an agreement reached between the then UDF government and the tribal leaders in 2002.

Chandy said that under the agreement, the then government had assured the tribal leaders that the government would provide at least one acre of land to every tribal person in the State. But the new clauses added on February 24, 2010, would not allow that as these stipulated that the applicants should not possess any other land, they should not have a chance to get land in future and their annual income should not exceed Rs.30,000.

Chandy alleged that the government had no sincerity to the farming community, especially in issues such as waiving of loans. The Union government could not implement its package for coffee farmers owing to a negative stance of the State government.

He said the Ecologically Fragile Land Act had put many farmers in a difficult position. The Opposition front would not allow anybody to acquire farmland by using the Act. The government should consider amending the Act.

(News agency)