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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission, V S Achuthanandan demanded to form a masterplan for rebuilding a new Kerala by evicting encroachments including in the Western Ghats area. Encroachments should be evicted, including in Munnar. Concessions given to quarries should be withdrawn initially.  

Nobody will say that development is not needed, but it should be based on clear planning and master plan. Kerala has not faced such a disaster before. While we concentrate on the disaster relief steps, we should also take steps so that disaster will not happen again. The floods happened because of unprecedented rains. Landslides intensified the disaster. This is because of the interventions we made in the nature. The lapses can be seen as a self-criticism.

He also said that the vision of development should also be changed. We need environment-friendly development. Constructions by forgetting nature has also resulted in huge disaster.  Disproportionate mining also amplified the situation. Now, we can see that what Madhav Gadgil said is true. We opposed the Gadgil committee report politically, but not scientifically. We should congratulate everyone who were involved in disaster relief activities. We should try together to get help from the centre. We should be alarmed so that another disaster may not occur again, said VS.