Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Thursday demanded that former Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan and former Forest Minister K. Raju be brought under the ambit of the ongoing investigation into the illegal felling of valuable timber from assigned land in the State.
He said the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government could not absolve itself of the crime of allowing the forest mafia to loot the State’s timber wealth.
It had passed an order on October 24 providing legal cover for the mafia to log trees on land assigned to farmers. The government issued the order under the pretext of allowing farmers to harvest trees they had grown on their land. The mafia used the ruling to convince farmers, many of them scheduled tribes, to sell them centuries-old rosewood and teak for a pittance, he said.
Helping mafia
The Forest and Revenue Department had enabled environmental crime at multiple levels. In South Muttil village in Wayanad, the mafia felled 120 rosewood trees, Mr. Satheesan alleged.
Their overwhelming influence in the previous LDF government prevented local forest and revenue officers from stopping the loot. However, several raised red flags and sent cautionary reports to the government, he said.
The government initially refused to rescind the order and finally revoked it on February 2. The same day, an Additional Private Secretary to the Forest Minister spoke to one of the kingpins of the racket. It revealed their nexus, Mr. Satheesan said.
The incumbent Revenue and Forest Ministers had said October 24 order was legal. By pronouncing a judgment on the case, the Ministers had prejudiced the ongoing probe and rendered it a farce. Mr. Satheesan said the UDF would launch a major campaign against the political malfeasance that resulted in the timber loot. The Opposition had lost faith in the Crime Branch and Vigilance probes, he said.
