Thiruvananthapuram: Official documents available in the public domain clearly reveal that higher officials of the Kerala government and those of Forest Department were aware of the order issued by Chief Wildlife Warden Bennichan Thomas, allowing Tamil Nadu to cut trees at the site of the Mullaperiyar baby dam.
The response of the ministers indicated that the Chief Wildlife Warden had issued the orders without informing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Minister for Water Resources Roshy Augustine and Forest Minister A K Saseendran.
It is baffling how an important Government Order (GO) can be issued by the officials alone without the concurrence of ministers concerned.
Water Resources Department Additional Chief Secretary T K Jose was likely aware of the issuance of this order by the Chief Wildlife Warden. But the latest row indicate that he had not informed the Chief Minister and the ministers concerned about the issuance of such an order.
Jose is the lone member of Kerala in the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee on the Mullaperiyar dam issue. He is also the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department, a portfolio handled by the chief minister himself.
Decision taken in additional chief secretary's chamber
The decision to allow cutting of trees at the Mullaperiyar baby dam site was taken at a high-level official meeting held at the chamber of Jose in the state Secretariat on May 1. On May 5, the Chief Wildlife Warden handed over to Jose a copy of the letter, granting permission to Tamil Nadu for cutting trees and detailing the procedures to be followed.
Forest and Wildlife Department Principal Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha had also prior knowledge about the GO. But he also did not bother to inform the Forest Minister.
The chief minister, the forest minister and the water resources minister came to know about the controversial order only when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin tweeted a thanks-giving letter to the chief minister for allowing cutting of trees at the dam site.
Lame excuse?
The strange argument of the higher officials is that the decision was taken as part of disposing of files which had been pending for a long time in the Secretariat.
The trees that were allowed to be chopped include "unnam", "porivetty", "mulaku nari", "thanni", "kubil", "vazhana", "njaval" and "kattu rubber".
Bennichan opposed move 15 years ago
Interestingly, it has come to the notice that Chief Wildlife Warden Bennichan Thomas, who issued the orders the other day, opposed the cutting of trees at the baby dam site 15 years ago when he was the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Thekkady Forest Division.
When Tamil Nadu government officials came with earth movers to uproot the trees, he had ordered the seizure of the machinery. The officials of Tamil Nadu had to make a retreat without cutting the trees because of the strong stand taken by Bennichan then.
