The Kerala government has decided to suspend all activities meant to notify nearly 365 hectares of land in Chinnakkanal in Idukki as a reserve forest.
The move to freeze a gazette notification issued by the Forest department on September 20 for the purpose follows stiff opposition from farmers organisations and the local community, which fear that the action will put stringent restrictions on various activities.
The government also understandably chose to stave off a snowballing controversy as the Navakerala Sadas, the mass outreach programme led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, neared the high-range district.
