Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the government will not reduce the area of the Kurinji reserve in Idukki.
Addressing a public meeting at Koothuparamba here on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the death of five Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) workers in police firing in 1994, Mr. Vijayan said the reserve would be protected.
The Ministerial committee was constituted to alleviate the fear of the local people, he said. He denied that a survey was going on in the reserve.
The committee would study the issue and hear people’s views before it reached any conclusion. The government’s decision to redraw the boundaries of the Kurinji reserve following allegations of encroachment had drawn opposition from the people, he said adding that there were also allegation that the move was part of a bid to give legal sanctity to encroachments.
The government appointed the committee to study the issue following the people’s opposition, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the MR vaccination campaign by some vested interested groups was planned to create panic among the people. Referring to the attacks on nurses and doctors involved in the vaccination drive in Malappuram district, he said that such forces should be alienated.
The Chief Minister presented ₹25 lakh collected by the DYFI State committee to Pushpan, who had suffered serious injuries in the police firing at Koothuparamba.
