KOCHI: The alleged attempt by the Malayattoor St Thomas Church to lease out forest land for setting up shops on the trek route to the shrine of St Thomas atop the hill has led to a stand off between the Forest Department and the church. Thousands of devotees take the arduous, three-km trek up the hill during Easter, often carrying heavy wooden crosses, to reach ‘Kurisumudy’, believed to have been established by St Thomas.
Forest Department officers said the church did not renewed the lease agreement with the department after 1976. “The Forest (Conservation Act) 1980 says even if any portion of the forest land is used for non-forest purpose prior to the enforcement of the Act, the tenure of such activity cannot be extended via renewal of lease without obtaining prior approval from the Union Government,” said Kodanad Forest Research Range Officer Anisha Sidhik.“We have obtained legal opinion from the government pleader, who says the entire activity being done on the forest land under the illegal possession of the church is in violation of the Forest Conservation Act,” Anisha said.
Congress MLA Roji M John told Express the practice of putting up stalls on the trek route has been continuing for decades and some forest officers are using the Forest Act to inconvenience pilgrims.
But Anisha said the department did not want to cause trouble to pilgrims. “However, we cannot allow a private party to lease out forest land for commercial purposes,” she said.Roji said Forest Minister K Raju had assured, the government will not stop the practice that has been followed for years.
“It is an arduous trek for pilgrims and we have been distributing water, rice gruel, watermelon and other refreshments to them since decades. The church is leasing out the stalls to meet the expenses for cleaning the pilgrim pathway everyday,” he said.Though the Forest Department had offered to engage the Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS) for the distribution of refreshments to pilgrims, the church allegedly refused to accept it. However, Roji said they were not against engaging the VSS for distribution of refreshments.
“But it is not possible this year as the pilgrimage has already started,” he said.