In a significant development, the State government will approach the Union government with a recommendation to exclude the Angel Valley and Pampa Valley villages from the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Addressing a public meeting to discuss the issue of those in the forest fringes at Erumely on Saturday evening, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran attributed the inclusion of these two villages in the reserve forest area as a technical glitch in satellite mapping and said steps had been initiated to rectify the mistake and submit it for the approval of the Union Forests and Wildlife Board.
The State government, according to him, was waiting for the Supreme Court’s order on the buffer zone issue to act in this regard. “Despite having a favourable Supreme Court order, attempts are being made to mislead people over the buffer zone issue and ignite a wave of protests across the high ranges,’’ noted the Minister, in his speech here.
Later in the day, Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan inaugurated the Vana Sauhrida Sadas on the premises of the Nainar mosque here, in which elected representatives of local bodies within the Poonjar and Kanjirappally Assembly constituencies participated.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Saseendran said a proposal would be brought in to revise the price of trees before they were cut down. Steps would be taken on the complaints received during the interaction programme before May 31.
Senior Forest officials including the Chief Wildlife Warden Ganga Singh and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest P. Pukazhenthi were also present.
The villages of Angel Valley and Pampa Valley in Erumely Panchayat, where the catholic church holds a considerable sway, have been the focal points of a raging protest in Central Travancore against the buffer zone markings around reserve forests. Although the recent Supreme Court order helped assuage the concerns in many areas across the region, the two villages continued to remain vulnerable after being mapped as forest land.
Taking a serious note of the church’s intervention in the issue, which organised a mass public protest at Mundakkayam, the State government had already reached out to the Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Kanjirappally.
