The Hindu : Mathikettan: Forest dept. refutes probe panel findings

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Saturday, Jul 20, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Mathikettan: Forest dept. refutes probe panel findings

By G. Prabhakaran

PALAKKAD JULY 19. The Forest Department has contested key findings of the Mathikettan Inquiry Commission report by the Additional Chief Secretary, Chandrasekharan Nair, placed in the Assembly on Monday.

The `Comments of the Forest Department on Mathikettan Inquiry Report' said that "the area identified as Mathikettan in the inquiry report is not conforming to the situation of land in the area as per details available on the Survey of India sheets prepared in 1976-77''.

The Commission said in para 4.4., "as per revenue records, Mathikettan falls in Thondimala Thavalam of Pooppara village in Idukki district. While the entire area of Thondimala Thavalam is estimated as 5,900 acres, Mathikettan area on the eastern part of Thondimala Thavalam adjoining the Pooppara-Bodimettu sector of NH 49 could be estimated to have an approximate extent of 1268 ha.''

The report said in para 8.5, "out of the total area of 1,268 ha., there is 47.26 ha. of lease, 124.23 ha. of patta and 114.16 ha. under LC cases (total 285.65 ha). There would be an estimated area of about 1,500 acres, which was encroached upon during the last few years and planted with cardamom and partly prepared for cardamom cultivation after removal of undergrowth. There will be only less than 1,000 acres left as pristine shola forest, undisturbed by human interference at Mathikettan Shola at present''.

When the Commission said that there was only 1,000 acres left as pristine shola forest, the Forest Department said that "according to statistics, the balance area is about 4,000 acres. On the basis of records provided by the Revenue Department for various thavalams, the total extent of Thondimala thavalam-Mathikettan is 5901.18 acres. Out of this, 1504.9 acres is given as cardamom pattas, 15.81 acres as puthuval pathivu, 372.73 acres as tea estate and 0.53 ha. as road porampokku (total 1912.38 acres).''

The Forest Department said that Mathikettan shola is shown clearly in the survey of India sheets prepared in 1976-77. The relevant sheets are 58G\1, 58G\5, 58F\4 and 58F\8. The area is indicated as dense mixed jungle. Since the Survey of India Sheets indicate the situation in 1976-77, the extent of Mathikettan shola after excluding the cardamom plantations and estates demarcated on it can be safely identified as having over 4000 acres.

The Forest Department said that "the details given in revenue records are not much reliable in the light of the finding of the Commission that most of the land records in the concerned taluk and village offices are irretrievably lost and the connivance of the revenue officials in abetting encroachers is proved beyond reasonable doubts."

The Forest Department said that it was reasonable to identify at least an extent of 4,000 acres as Mathikettan Shola and preserve the same as forest for environmental and ecological reasons, and not 1268 ha. as assessed by the Commission.

On the question of application of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 in the Cardamom Hill Reserve also the Forest Department takes opposite views.

It took the position that "cardamom is one of the spices included in the schedule attached to the Spices Act and the cultivation of cardamom is a non-forestry activity as per the explanation under Section 2 of the Act. So the continuation of cardamom cultivation in CHR areas needs permission from the Government of India."

The inquiry report said that "the Revenue Department takes the view that cultivation of cardamom is not a non-forestry activity as defined in the Act and there is no need to change the present administrative control of the CHR land, which now vests with the Revenue Department... the Government has to take a final view on the nature of CHR''.

On the question of fixing responsibility for encroachment, the Forest Department said that "the Commission has fixed equal responsibility on the forest staff of the Bodimettu Section and the Range Officers of Munnar as that of the Revenue officials for the encroachment and illicit felling of trees in Mathikettan which went on unchecked after 1996. It is true that the provisions of the Kerala Forest Act 1961 are applicable to the areas in CHR. But the control over the entire land falling in CHR including dealing with encroachments of land and disposal of tree growth is the sole responsibility of the Revenue Department. So, the forest officials who were neither consulted nor informed about the lease of land for cultivation in CHR areas could not implement the Forest Act effectively. Even then, the Forest officials had booked 44 offences in Mathikettan area from 1995.

Thus the primary responsibility for encroachment and tree felling at Mathikettan area lies squarely on the officials of Revenue Department, the Forest Department said.

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