Kerala chief minister Achuthanandan in Munnar on Tuesday. (PTI)

Munnar, July 3: Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan braved tricky terrain and downpour to recover 1,300 acres from Tata Tea’s “illegal custody” at Munnar today.

The CPM leader, who has ordered a drive against encroachments at the hill resort, reached the site in a winter cap and blazer around eight this morning. But the tough conditions — it was cold at 10 degrees Celsius and the wind was strong — didn’t weaken his resolve to complete the task and announce that the land had been taken back.

He warned the company against planting hurdles. “If the Tatas go to court or try some other means to stall the recovery, please be rest assured we will take back all leased land. Let this be a warning,” the chief minister said, referring to last week’s Kerala High Court stay on recovery of excess land in the company’s possession.

Tata Tea reportedly has 56,000 acres, of which 23,000 acres are for plantation and the rest for firewood.

The Tata board at the site was torn down and replaced with another declaring the land to be government property.

But a Tata official said what was reclaimed today is “in fact a forest already vested with the government”.

“We had only placed our signboard there. But since it was on forest department land, it has been removed,” said T. Damu, a vice-president with the Tata group.

K. Suresh Kumar, picked for the demolition job at the hill resort, questioned the claim, saying if the land was not in the firm’s custody, the board shouldn’t have been there in the first place. “It was not a signboard after all.”

Achuthanandan said he was only doing what previous regimes could not — take back land from encroachers and redistribute them among the poor.

Over 10,000 acres have been recovered since the drive began last month.

Opposition leader Oommen Chandy offered to support Achuthanandan, but only if his plans were “well-intentioned”. He warned of protests if it was found that the government defied the stay in favour of Tata Tea only to create legal hurdles and stall genuine land recovery.

In May, the chief minister had spoken of getting the “big sharks snared first”. “Tata Tea has grabbed 50,000 acres of prime land in Munnar. I have asked the special task force to get it vacated at the earliest,” he had said then.