KOCHI: Coming down heavily on the Forest Department, Public Works Minister G Sudhakaran on Tuesday alleged that a section of forest officers were blocking development projects in the state. “When I met the Ministry of Environment and Forest secretary in Delhi in 2017, the official told me that the Forest Department here was referring to the Centre even those files on which it can itself take a decision. It is not the Centre but a section of officers in Kerala who are blocking development projects.
This amounts to dereliction of duty,” Sudhakaran told TNIE. He was responding to a query on the likely hurdles in obtaining environmental clearance for the Anakkampoyil-Meppadi tunnel road project which was launched by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday.
“The Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd is preparing the detailed project report (DPR) for the tunnel project and will conduct the environmental impact study. Once the DPR is ready, we will approach the Centre for environmental clearance. The road is not passing through deep forest areas and there is no need to worry about obtaining clearance at this stage,” he said.
Sudhakaran said the Forest Department had not given clearance for 12 reaches of the Hill Highway project even after four years, which has hampered the work.“The state cabinet had approved the project and work is progressing in 21 of the 40 reaches. The government is unable to launch the work in 12 reaches though the highway does not pass through deep forest areas. We are ready to meet the compensatory afforestation requirements,” he said.Expressing helplessness in completing the Kuthiran tunnel road project and Kozhikode bypass, Sudhakaran said he has written to the Centre recommending the cancellation of the contracts.