Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 30 (PTI) The Opposition UDF on Thursday staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly, accusing the Pinarayi Vijayan government of being responsible for a recent Supreme Court verdict on buffer zones which has triggered intense protests in high ranges of the State even as the latter denied the charges and said a letter has already been sent to the Centre requesting to file a review petition at the apex court.
The top court had, on June 3, pronounced the verdict to create a one-km eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around all wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, which is generally considered to affect normal life of people living in the high range areas of the southern State for decades.
Though the Opposition members raised the issue during the Zero Hour and demanded to discuss it after halting other businesses, considering its seriousness, the government did not pay heed, prompting the protest and walkout.
Before the walkout, the House witnessed heated arguments between the UDF and LDF members.
Replying to a notice for the motion, Forest Minister A K Saseendran said the government was viewing the matter, affecting the populated areas of high ranges, with utmost seriousness.
The Advocate General has been entrusted with the task of taking further steps to submit a review petition against the verdict and make the Centre, its empowered committee and the apex court convinced about the peculiar circumstances existing in the State’s high ranges, he said.
The State government has already sent a letter to the Union government in this regard, he said adding that the AG was also directed to take steps to request the Centre to get nod for the proposals in connection with the eco-sensitive zones pending under their consideration after bringing it before the Supreme Court.
“The government will do all possible things to resolve the concerns of the people living in the high ranges. The opposition allegation that, the LDF government’s decision in 2019 to demarcate 0-1 km surrounding the protected forest areas as buffer zone has led to the present apex court verdict, is absolutely wrong,” he told the House.
He said it was the previous Congress-UDF government under the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had decided to set 0-12 km around the protected areas as eco-sensitive zones in 2013 and the Vijayan government, which came to power after that, actually reduced the area upto one km.
However, Opposition leader V D Satheesan rejected the charges and said the Chandy government had actually studied the issue in detail and submitted a proposal to the Centre in 2015 to exempt the human settlements located near thte protected forests.
Besides giving an in-principle nod to declare upto one-km area around the protected forests as buffer zone, the Vijayan government also had set aside the Chandy government’s proposals to exempt the human settlements.
“The Union Minister for Enviornment and Forests also informed the court that Kerala is in favour of the buffer zone. Atually, it was your (Vijayn government’s) order that has been pronounced as verdict by the Supreme Court. It was against this same verdict that you recently held hartals in Wayanad and Idukki,” he said.
Stating that people are eagerly waiting to see the decision taken by the Assembly on the buffer zone issue, Satheesan also said the government should demand to exempt settlement areas from the buffer zone limit at least now.
As Speaker M B Rajesh rejected leave for the mottion based on the Minister’s reply, the Opposition staged the walkout.
The high range areas of Kerala, particularly areas in Idukki, Wayanad, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts, had been witnessing hartals by various political and farmers’ groups against the apex court order delivered on June 3.
Issuing a slew of directions, a Bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao had on June 3 ordered that no permanent structure would be allowed within such ESZs and said if the local law or other rules provide for an ESZ of more than one km, then the earlier provision would continue to apply.
The apex court order came on a batch of applications filed on a pending PIL of 1995 and they raised two sets of issues with the first one related to mining activities in and around Jamua Ramgarh, a wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan.
The second set of issues was related to prescribing ESZs surrounding the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. PTI LGK NVG NVG
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