legislation to stop reclamation of Kerala's fast dwindling paddy fields is to be brought in by the state government, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran informed the Assembly on Wednesday.
The proposed legislation would also have powers to act against encroachment and degradation of rivers, backwaters and marshes causing serious threat to ecological balance, Rajendran told the House in reply to a question. The issue would be discussed with farmers and people's representatives before giving final shape to the legislation. Recent studies have shown that the state's paddy cultivation base had been dangerously declining to touch a meagre 2.76 lakh hectares posing a serious threat
to food security and environment. Paddy fields are mostly converted into cash crop gardens or reclaimed for building purposes across the state. Of late, conservationists have been pressing for effective laws to save the remaining paddy fields as the real estate boom in the state have brought it (paddy fields) under severe selling pressure.
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