Southern States - Kerala   

Govt. charged with sabotaging ordinance

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD SEPT. 28. The Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V.S. Achuthanandan, has alleged that two Ministers of the Cabinet sub-committee to examine the Sandal Ordinance given assent by the President have direct or indirect connections with certain illicit sandal oil factories in Palakkad and Kasaragod. Addressing a press conference after visiting three sandal oil extraction factories in the Walayar and Chittur areas of Palakkad district, Mr. Achuthanandan said the UDF Government was trying to sabotage the Sandal Ordinance brought in by the previous LDF Government, which had received the President's assent.

The ordinance was to put an end to the illicit sandal oil extraction by these factories and to protect the sandal forests of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Mr. Achuthanandan alleged that two members of the Cabinet sub-committee. K. Kunhalikutty and Cherkalam Abdulla, had benami connections with sandal oil extraction factories. Including such Ministers to examine the Sandal Ordinance was aimed at sabotaging it, he said.

The CPI(M) leader said the Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran's attitude towards the sandal factories showed that he had "surrendered to the sandal mafia.'' He had not taken any action so far to control their activities though he stated in Palakkad the other day that the Forest Department had not given any `no-objection certificate' (NOC) to any sandal factories in the State.

The registration certificates of three factories in Walayar and Chittur proved that these factories had registration certificates for `manufacturing sandal oil' from the Central Excise and the local panchayat, he said.

Since sandalwood is a forest produce, an NOC from the Forest Department is a must as per the Forest Conservation Act to process sandalwood or to manufacture something out of it. But the Forest Department in Kerala is allowing these factories to operate without their NOC.

He said they were allowed to import sandalwood from Tanzania, for which the Forest Department had issued passes for its transportation from the Cochin Port to factories in Palakkad. It is then used for oil extraction.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the sandal factory owners were `benamies' of some top leaders of the ruling UDF, which prevented from taking any action against the sandal factories.

The Leader of the Opposition said that these factories were a threat to the sandal forests of Marayur in the State. The UDF Government was not showing any interest to protect this, he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan pointed out that the annual production of sandalwood in the State was only 100 tonnes, which was not enough to run even one factory. But more than 20 factories were operating in Kerala.

This means that the raw material was being smuggled into the State or procured from the sandal forests of Kerala. By not putting an end to the smuggling of sandalwood, the UDF Government was encouraging the sandal mafia to continue their illegal activities.

Mr. Achuthanandan, who also visited the strongroom of the Forest Department at Olavakkode, from where sandalwood, sandal oil and ivory were stolen, said that the theft took place with the connivance of forest officials.

There was no evidence to show that thieves stole it. Instead, it looked as if someone wanted to destroy the evidence in 44 cases. It seems that the confiscated articles were taken out after opening the strongroom and the Olavakkode range office. It must have taken some time as the lower portion of the strongroom was cut open by gas cutters. A situation was created to show that a theft took place, he said. Thus only a judicial inquiry would bring out the truth, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Entertainment | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Govt. charged with sabotaging ordinance
• Antony calls for 'Clean Kerala' campaign
• Sexual crime against children on the rise
• Karunakaran caught between sibling rivalry
• Shobhana George's private secretary held

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu