K. Sudhakaran, MP, has said that the directive of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoEF) to stop all activities in the Mangrove Theme Park developed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-controlled Pappinissery Eco-Tourism Society is binding on the park authorities.
Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Mr. Sudhakaran said that if the CPI(M) leaders were of the view that the MoEF order was not binding on the park, it betrayed their ignorance of law. The law would be implemented in the park and no one could stop it, he asserted. The MP said that though environmental issues came under the concurrent list, the State government was obliged to implement the Central government's directives on such issues. If the State government failed to do so, there would be a Constitutional crisis, he noted.
Mr. Sudhakaran said the seven-member panel of the State Coastal Zone Management Authority visiting the park on July 20 would assess the damage caused by the park to the mangrove eco-system in the area.
He said no authority in the State had said that the park was set up with any consent from any authorities. As a local MP, he could not but oppose the park developed in violation of rules. If Pappinissery was part of the Union of India, the law concerning protection of mangroves would be implemented in the park, he added. The CPI(M) should not think that it could defy the law by muscle power, he warned.
To a question on the CPI(M) district leadership's allegation that he had got the support of the Popular Front of India (PFI) during the Lok Sabha election, he said those who raised the allegation should prove it. The CPI(M) leadership, which had called on the PFI to surrender its weapons, should first ask its own cadres to do the same, he said. While strongly condemning violent attacks instigated by PFI activists, he also wanted to point out that the PFI was not alone. If the chopping off of the hand of Newman College Professor T.J. Joseph was Talibanism, the murder of a class teacher (Bharatiya Yuva Morcha leader K.T. Jayakrishnan) inside a classroom in front of school students was also Talibanism, he said, adding that the CPI(M) was hiding the fact under the garb of its being a political party.
