Kerala Govt cheating farmers over buffer zone issue: Cong

Kochi (Kerala) [India], December 19 (ANI): Accusing the Kerala Government of cheating the state’s farmers over the issue of buffer zones along protected areas, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday said that state Government is taking a hypocritic stand on the issue.

“The survey report is wrong. But to say that the same will be submitted to the Supreme Court is utter fraud and hypocrisy,” said Chennithala speaking to media persons.

He said that the Kerala Minister’s statement that the flawed report will be submitted to the Supreme Court cannot be accepted under any circumstances. “The decision to submit this flawed report to the Supreme Court is a gross betrayal and murder of the farmers,” he added.

Hinting that a new report might be prepared, Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran on Sunday said that the report would not be submitted before the Supreme Court in its present form.

“The Kerala government should have adopted the positions of the governments of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and others. Zero buffer zone should have been adopted,” said the Congress leader. He alleged that the government at first decided to have a 3 km buffer zone and then a 1 km buffer zone.

“The satellite survey report cannot be accepted under any circumstances,” Ramesh Chennithala added.

The survey was conducted by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre and it had identified nearly 50 thousand structures like schools, houses, hospitals etc in 115 villages.

However, it was alleged that the survey missed out on small huts and shops and tiny buildings which fall under the tree cover.

The survey was being conducted due to a June 3 order of the Supreme Court which said that every protected area of the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of 1 km.