00:00Agriculture Minister Ravi Rattaram got a first-hand view of the destruction in Los
00:05Euros today, just over one week after the sudden and extensive land movement
00:10occurred. Despite ongoing reports that the land is still shifting, at least one
00:15major concern has been ruled out. The first thing we did is we contacted the
00:21Environmental Management Authority, Heritage Kariri has been here to ensure
00:27that the area is safe when it comes to the emissions because there's gas that
00:31is being emitted in the area based on the fault. Testing took place this morning and
00:37we are happy that the gas is not above the environmental permissible levels. So it
00:45is safe where that is concerned. However, with respect to the soil movements, we
00:50still are not certain whether the incident has come to an end or it is still an
00:56active site. So until we can, you know, be secure that there is no further risk
01:03associated, it is something that we have to monitor and we have to do a thorough
01:07assessment offer. Roughly 30 farmers were affected by the land movement. They're
01:13asking for compensation and relocation. But Minister Rattaram says more immediate
01:19interventions will come first, such as the start of remedial woodworks and the
01:24installation of a Bailey bridge to restore access.
01:27There are crops in the field. There are gardens with produce in it. And it is very challenging for these farmers to get that produce out of the gardens to market. So the immediate relief at this point in time we can provide is temporary infrastructure works to ensure that farmers be given the opportunity to get their produce out of the fields to the market. And at the same time, we assess the risk associated with the
01:54fault. And with the incident to see what is the better medium term and long term plan in terms of ensuring that this kind of incident don't affect agricultural activities in the future.
02:09The minister is also committing to looking into reports of land grabbing and pridial larceny.
02:15Land grabbing activities, that is something that we are definitely investigating and we are looking into that. We are not going to let these matters be swept under the carpet or look away from it. This is a serious issue at the end of the day because you cannot have people just grabbing lands, occupying and holding onto the lands and not producing.
02:34The lands, the lands, the agricultural lands should belong to the farmers because at the end of the day we need to get these agricultural lands back into production.
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