Govt. defending forest mafia: VS

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 30. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, has alleged large-scale corruption in the Government's failure to protect the State's interests under the Kerala Forest (Vesting and Management of Ecologically Fragile Forest Lands) Ordinance.

Mr. Achuthanandan told a news conference here today that the Government's failure to present its case effectively before the High Court could be only seen as an attempt to defend the interests of the forest mafia. The Ordinance was issued by the LDF Government to ensure that the land in question did not go to private planters, he pointed out.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the Government's argument that majority of land-holders were small farmers was not correct. Studies had shown that majority of land-holders were planters. The Government should take steps immediately to clear the suspicion about the issue and safeguard the State's interests. This would be possible only if the State went in appeal to the Supreme Court in the matter.

He also came down heavily on the Government's failure to defend the take-over of cashew factories to ensure prompt payment of wages and other benefits to the workers. Citing the court decision to hand over three out of 24 factories taken over by the Government years ago, he said this would not have happened if the counsel for the State had presented the case effectively before the court.

Mr. Achuthanandan pointed out that the factories in question were taken over when the factory owners refused to pay minimum wages to the workers. The factories had then provided employment to the workers for more than 200 days after the take- over. If the factories were returned to the private industrialists, it would have resulted in more exploitation, he said.

Replying to questions on the student violence in the capital city the other day, Mr. Achuthanandan claimed that the students had resorted to violence only when the police started beating them up. He disputed reports that the students had hurled country-made bombs at the police personnel and mediapersons and said this was nothing but part of a bid by a section of the media to distort facts.

On the Kairali TV management's decision to retrench its workers including journalists, he claimed that the decision was not as serious as was being made out by the media as it was nothing but meant to dispense with the services of persons who had been appointed on contract basis.

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Section  : Southern States
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