New Delhi: Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan on June 15, 2021 questioned the silence of the Pinarayi Vijayan led Kerala government on the felling of trees on revenue land in Wayanad and several other districts across the state.
“We visited many districts where hundreds of trees have been cut against the rules. The state government is silent on this issue. Person(s) responsible for such acts is not limited to officers. It means that political leadership is the culprit,” V Muraleedharan told ANI.
The union minister said that the state government should have authorized an independent agency to investigate the matter instead of constituting a Special Investigation Team comprising of senior officials of the police, revenue, and forest departments.
“Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hasn’t given a reply on who is to be held responsible. An Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) has been appointed, but can he conduct a probe on acts of omission and commission by senior IFS and IAS officers?. An independent agency that will not succumb to State pressure needs to be authorized to probe this”, said Muraleedharan.
The Union Minister of State further said, “The role of revenue and forest minister has come out but the Chief Minister has not given a clear answer on who is to be held responsible. This is the biggest scam in Kerala in the last seven years.”
