Deputy Collector to hold regular meetings of Moolampilly Package Monitoring Committee

The periodical meetings of the Moolampilly Package Monitoring Committee (MPMC), chaired by the Ernakulam District Collector, meant to oversee the implementation of the Moolampilly rehabilitation package for families evicted for the rail and road connectivity to the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal, may be hitherto held regularly.

A meeting of MPMC, comprising representatives of various government departments, agencies, and affected families, held on July 21, 2025, at the Collector’s chamber, decided to meet regularly.

District Collector N.S.K. Umesh will preside over the next meeting of the MPMC scheduled for August 22, 2025, whereafter the Deputy Collector for Land Acquisition will chair the meetings. Only contentious issues will be referred to the Collector.

It has been a long-standing demand of the Moolampilly Rehabilitation Package Coordination Committee that MPMC meetings be held regularly. Ever since then Revenue Additional Principal Secretary constituted the MPMC, following a meeting held in the Chief Minister’s chamber on June 6, 2011, it was held at regular intervals only in the initial phase, though it was originally supposed to be held once every month. For instance, the last meeting of the MPMC was held on June 27, 2024, which in turn was held after a gap of five years.

The latest meeting of the MPMC was held after the coordination committee office-bearers met Thrikkakara MLA Uma Thomas and urged her to intervene and use her office to ensure that the monitoring committee was convened every month without fail. “We presented a charter of demands for the consideration of the meeting, which discussed it threadbare. A timeline was fixed and responsibility assigned for the implementation of various demands. We have been promised that the minutes of the meeting will be made available within 10 days,” said Francis Kalathungal, general convener of the coordination committee.

In fact, consistent functioning of the MPMC was the top-most demand in the charter. “Considering the District Collector’s multifaceted responsibilities, we request that the Deputy Collector [Land Records] be assigned the responsibility of convening committee meetings at regular intervals,” it said.