The Hindu : Kerala News : Sudhakaran contests Viswanathan's claim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Sudhakaran contests Viswanathan's claim

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 10. The former Forest Minister K.P. Viswananthan's claim that no Forest Minister before him had dared to touch the sandalwood mafia was contested today by his predecessor K. Sudhakaran.

Mr. Viswanathan, who quitted as Forest Minister on Wednesday following the High Court's remarks about him in a case involving a sandalwood oil extraction unit, had said while announcing his resignation that there had been no history of raids against sandalwood factories before his taking over the Ministry five months ago.

"He seems have been misinformed," Mr. Sudhakaran said at a press conference here today. "During my tenure as Forest Minister, there were 11 raids in 2002, three in 2003 and two in 2004. We seized 11,929 kg, 5,157 kg and 849 kg of sandalwood respectively from the factories during these years."

He said that a Cabinet sub-committee set up by the previous Antony Government had recommended the closure of all sandalwood factories in June 2004. The Antony Cabinet subsequently approved the recommendation.

The decision taken by the Oommen Chandy Cabinet on Wednesday to close down all sandalwood factories reflected the UDF Government's resolve to stop the operations of the sandalwood mafia, according to him.

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