Cong leader asks Ker govt to reconsider decision on W'Ghat

Expressing concern over the party-led UDF Government's stand to treat certain areas in Western Ghats as non-forest category, a senior Congress leader today said it would weaken the cases filed in various courts to reclaim forest land in illegal possession of private parties.
After a high-level meeting on Western Ghats last week, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said the state had apprised the Centre of its stand that only forest land now protected by the Forest Department would be recommended for demarcation as Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs).
Urging the state government to reconsider the decision, KPCC Vice-President V D Satheesan, MLA, said "Such a stand will adversely affect the cases filed by the government in Forest Tribunal, High Court and Supreme Court seeking to reclaim tens of thousands of acres of forest land currently in the illegal possession of private parties."

In a facebook post, Satheesan said in case if the state government gives a report to the Union government by not showing such forest areas as government-owned land, it will help the lobby which had encroached thousands of hectares of forest land in the state.
His statement comes days after senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh opposed the Kerala government's controversial decision to treat cardamom plantations in the forests in the state as revenue land.
The former environment minister has said "Cardamom plantations in ecologically sensitive areas must be treated as forest areas".
Thousands of cardamom plantations are situated in ecologically fragile areas of Western Ghats and there are allegations that over course of time, cultivators have been trying to establish their ownership of such areas.

Environmentalists fear that the Kerala government's decision will further dilute the already watered down Kasturirangan panel report and adversely affect shrinking biodiversity areas of the state.