Book former Revenue, Forest Ministers: Oppn.

Satheesan says previous govt. cannot absolve itself in tree felling case

Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Thursday demanded that former Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan and former Forest Minister K. Raju be brought under the ambit of the ongoing investigation into the illegal felling of valuable timber from assigned land in the State. He said the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government could not absolve itself of the crime of allowing the forest mafia to loot the State’s timber wealth. It had passed an order on October 24 providing legal cover for the mafia to log trees on land assigned to farmers. The government issued the order under the pretext of allowing farmers to harvest trees they had grown on their land. The mafia used the ruling to convince farmers, many of them scheduled tribes, to sell them centuries-old rosewood and teak for a pittance, he said.