MALAPPURAM: Opposition leader V D Satheesan on Monday said that the state government had tried
to shrug off the charge of plundering the forests by filing cases against farmers and tribal people. He was speaking to the reporters here, about the rampant illegal felling of trees reported from Wayanad, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, after calling on Muslim League(IUML) supremo Sayyid Hyderali
Shihab Thangal at Panakkad. Such large-scale felling of trees would not have been possible without political patronage, the Congress leader said.
"Tahsildars and village officers are custodians of vested trees. It is the forest department's responsibility to maintain details of trees, their size, age etc. Still, neither the revenue nor the forest department is willing to take theblame for what has happened. Now, the government has moved in to register cases against farmers and tribals for felling trees. It is a tactic by the government to shield itself from the corruption charges by creating protests through farmers and tribals," Satheesan said.
He also hit out at the ruling CPM and the CPI over their failure to own up responsibility for the issue. "The CPM and CPI, which are the major constituents of the ruling combine, have remained mum on the issue. Also, the government issued a strange order to facilitate tree felling. The order bars forest and revenue officials from taking action against those resorting to illegal felling of trees," he said.
"We have already demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter. Currently, there are serious limitations for staging protests. However, we will organise protests if the government were to shield those behind the plunder of forest wealth. A UDF team led by T N Prathapan, MP, will visit the sites in Thrissur and
another team led by Benny Behanan, MP, will visit the sites in Wayanad, Idukki and Ernakulam to prepare a report on the issue," the Opposition leader said.
According to Satheesan, the UDF stand on the issue of minority scholarship is pretty clear. "The government shouldn't make a reduction in present dispensation of scholarship to the minority communities (Muslims, Latin Catholic Christians and converted Christians). The government should also distribute scholarships to other notified minority communities based on the proportion of their population. However, the CPM and CPI have not revealed their stand on the issue yet. Even during the all-party meeting convened to discuss the issue, the party representatives remained tight-lipped," Satheesan said.
The Opposition leader urged the government to weigh the socio-economic damage inflicted by the lockdown. "The government had offered several aids to people during the first lockdown in 2020. But it failed to consider the situation of the people during the Covid second wave. Many people have lost their jobs and are struggling to survive. So, the government should seriously think whether the lockdown should be continued with the present restrictions," he said.
However, he added that the UDF will continue to extend unconditional support to the government in the anti-Covid fight.