The Hindu : Cabinet to decide on status of Mathikettan

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Monday, May 06, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Cabinet to decide on status of Mathikettan

By Our Staff Reporter

OTTAPALAM (Palakkad) MAY 5. The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, has said that all encroachers in the Mathikettan Shola will be evicted soon and a decision on the status of the shola will be decided in the next Cabinet meeting on May 8.

Talking to presspersons here today, the Chief Minister denied the allegation that there was large-scale encroachment of forest land after the UDF Government came to power in May last year. "In fact, the encroachment of Mathikettan Shola took place during the previous LDF rule. The UDF Government has taken action to stop it and has deputed a committee of three Government Secretaries headed by an Additional Chief Secretary to look into the issue. After getting their report, necessary steps will be taken against the encroachers,'' he said.

Asked whether the encroachments at Mathikettan and elsewhere were a violation of the directives issued to Congress Chief Ministers at the Guwahati conference by the party president on the need to conserve forest and protect wildlife, the Chief Minister said her directive would be considered while taking steps to protect the forest and environment of the State.

The Chief Minister said there were many people in Government offices who had no work. At the same time, there were some offices where the employees found it difficult to complete their work. "In such cases, deployment of Government employees is a must. But there are difficulties in redeploying nearly 50,000 employees as suggested by the Planning Board. So, it will take some more time.''

He said there was no ban on recruitment in the existing vacancies, but no new posts had been created. The extension of one more year for the PSC ranklists was done to help the unemployed who had been waiting for years to get a Government job.

The Chief Minister said that during the last one year, the UDF had been able to take the State out of financial bankruptcy and that it was in the process of recovery.

Regarding the KPCC president, K. Muraleedharan's criticism against the Transport Minister, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, over the move to take on lease private buses, the Chief Minister said there would be differences when different Ministers and departments took certain administrative steps.

Mr. Antony said there were no serious problems in the UDF or in the Congress party that could not be solved through discussions. "Comparatively, it is a problem-free period for both the Congress and the UDF,'' he said.

Earlier, inaugurating the M.P. Govinda Menon memorial building here, the Chief Minister said certain parties were trying out shortcuts to create communal vote banks. "For that, they are trying to divide people on community and caste basis. The secular and democratic forces should stop this," he said. Condemning the communal carnage in Gujarat, Mr. Antony said the secular forces should take a firm stand against attempts to divide people on caste and communal basis. "Even when there is a dispute between anti-social elements there are attempts to communalise the things. There are many such incidents. The communal forces are trying to become political forces through propaganda. The secular forces, which are duty-bound to thwart such attempts, are not doing it.'' ``We should have introspection over the matter. Even the secular parties fail to stop the communal forces and in some cases, some of their party workers knowingly or unknowingly are resorting to communal propaganda. This is a very dangerous trend," he warned. The building has been constructed in memory of the veteran freedom fighter and Congress stalwart, M. P. Govinda Menon. The function was presided over by the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan. The veteran Congress leader, P. Balan, chairman of the M. P. Govinda Menon Centre for Studies, made the introductory speech. Those who addressed the meeting include Arayadan Mohammed, K. A. Chandran and C.P. Mohammed, MLAs, the DCC president, V.S. Vijayaraghavan, Karunakaran, son of M.P. Govinda Menon and the DCC secretary, P.J. Paulose, among others.

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