THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made it clear that the apprehensions raised by the Kerala Congress (M) against certain provisions in the Kerala Forest Amendment Bill will be examined seriously, KC(M) chairman Jose K Mani told reporters on Monday, after leading a delegation to meet the CM.
Jose said the CM assured him that the government will not take any measures detrimental to farmers and inhabitants of high-range areas.The KC(M) says around 1.3 crore residents of 430 panchayats that share their borders with forests will be affected by the bill.
The contention raised by the party includes the amendment of Section 63 of the Act that allows forest officials to keep arrested persons in their custody for a longer period than earlier, before they are produced at police stations.
The party has red-flagged various proposed provisions, including those that empower beat forest officers to enforce arrests, give forest officials the right to search vehicles, and allow them to search houses and premises of a suspect without warrant.
The party has also flagged the amendment that does away with the provision to punish officials who wrongly arrest people.
Government chief whip N Jayaraj, MLAs Job Michael and Pramod Narayan, and general secretary (office in charge) Stephen George were part of the delegation that met the CM. The meeting lasted 45 minutes.