Paravur ∙ Opposition leader VD Satheesan is arguing that CK Sreedharan went to the other side following taking all the documents from the families of Saratlal and Kripesh who were killed in Periya. “What kind of professional ethics is there in the person who spoke to the parents and bought all the documents and said that he would plead for them? Sreedharan has committed an unforgivable wrong and injustice. It is equivalent to killing once once more children who have been killed” – Satheesan added.
∙ Buffer Zone: Complacency by the government
The indifference and mismanagement of the government on the buffer zone issue is an unforgivable offence. In 2013, the cabinet meeting during the Oommen Chandy government informed the central government that residential areas should be completely avoided. But the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which came to power in 2016, was not ready to answer the doubts raised by the Union Environment Ministry in this regard. With this, this decision was canceled in 2018.
Following this, the Pinarayi government decided in 2019 to declare a buffer zone of one kilometer including population centers and informed the Centre. M.M., who was a member of the cabinet meeting that decided to become a buffer zone in residential areas. It was Mani who called for the hartal in Idukki.
In 2021, Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar replied in the Parliament that the buffer zone was determined according to the state decision. Another ambiguous order was issued following the opposition strongly protested once morest the state government’s decision in and outside the assembly. The opposition pointed out that following the cabinet decision of October 23, 2019, the order issued on the 31st is canceled and a new decision is taken in the Supreme Court. But the government is not ready for that. Kerala is still haunted by the fact that this government reversed the decision of the Oommen Chandy government.
Kerala has 29 to 30 percent forest cover compared to the national average of 21 percent. Kerala is also the most densely populated place in India. The buffer zone covers tens of thousands of hectares of land, including 20 towns and farms. Convinced of these peculiarities of the state, the Supreme Court exempted settlements from the one kilometer buffer zone. The opposition has demanded a manual survey for this
Such a proposal was put before the government following the Congress and UDF studied the matter thoroughly. But instead of manual survey, the government conducted satellite survey by remote sensing agency. A satellite survey report is not sufficient to prove the existence of settlements, farms or towns in the buffer zone area. If the government goes to the Supreme Court with this satellite report, it will cause serious harm to Kerala.
At least the government should urgently take steps to conduct a manual survey. The government should also be prepared to ask for an extension of the deadline for submitting the report when the Supreme Court is hearing the case in the second week of January. If the government does not take action on the issue, the Congress and UDF will take up the strike like the Silverline agitation. UDF will mobilize all the victims of the buffer zone and go ahead with the struggle once morest the anti-people government – Satheesan said.
English Summary: VD Satheesan once morest CK Sreedharan Periya case and buffer zone issue
