Mullaperiyar Dam: Congress demands juidicial inquiry into orders of felling of trees at Baby Dam

Demanding a judicial inquiry into felling of trees downstream of Mullaperiyar Baby Dam in Idduki, Congress MLA K Babu said on Saturday that the order by the Kerala forest authority has weakened the state's stand on the issue in the Supreme Court.

Babu, who is a Deputy leader of Congress Parliamentary, said, "Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should answer as to why the permission was granted to chop off the trees. All the related files were kept confidential. As this is an inter-state issue, all the related files should be disclosed. The issue was not discussed in the cabinet meeting. How can a decision on such a sensitive topic be taken at the bureaucratic level without the knowledge of the Chief Minister and ministers?"

The Chief Minister should break his silence and speak the truth, he said.

"The government sacrificed the interests of Kerala to protect the interests of the CPIM in Tamil Nadu. The CPIM in Kerala did this in order to protect the CPIM's parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu. The central leadership of the CPIM should state its position on this," said Babu.

He also sought the intervention of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan.

The Kerala Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Benichan Thomas, had granted permission to chop off the 15 trees downstream of the Baby Dam last week.

Reportedly, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan came to light about the decision only after he received a thanking letter from his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin last Saturday. Since then, the issue has turned into a big political slugfest between the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition party Congress. The Kerala government has maintained a stand that it was not aware of the decision taken by the forest official.

( With inputs from ANI )

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