Spice garden of Kerala, and the district whose dams light two-thirds of the State

Background

The Kerala High Court's Munnar Bench is pressing for a Special Task Force on government land in Idukki, so the district itself is worth placing. Idukki was formed on 26 January 1972, and the district administration describes it as the second largest district in Kerala by area. It lies in the Western Ghats, and more than half of the district is forest reserve. The district administration says the hydroelectric projects there supply about 66 per cent of Kerala's power needs. Idukki has the lowest population density of any district in Kerala, with dense towns and thinly settled villages. It is called the spice garden of Kerala. Munnar and Vagamon, the places in the land encroachment case, lie within it.