Thiruvananthapuram: The latest documents showing the involvement of Forest Department Principal Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha in granting permission to Tamil Nadu for tree-felling at Mullaperiyar baby dam site are pointing to the fact that those in the top echelons of the government had prior knowledge of the order.
The reports have come to the fore that apart from Additional Chief Secretary TK Jose, the forest principal secretary also sent many letters to the top officials of the Forest Department, exerting pressure on them to issue the tree felling order at the earliest.
The official communications and letters sent by Sinha ran contrary to the argument of Forest Minister A K Saseendran that the controversial order was issued without the knowledge of the state government.
In the explanation letter given to the government, the suspended Chief Wildlife Warden Bennichan Thomas had said that Additional Chief Secretary TK Jose had called him thrice and asked him to speed up the process for granting permission for tree-felling. Adding to the government's woes, the official letters sent by Sinha have also come out in the open now.
Three letters sent by principal sec
It is also known that the Forest Department principal secretary had written three letters to the Forest Department head and chief principal conservator of Forests P K Kesavan and the principal conservator of forests concerned. The moot question is whether the principal secretary would write official letters on such an important and sensitive topic without the knowledge of the forest minister.
It was on October 19 last year that the principal secretary sent his first letter to the four officials, including the forest department head and the chief wildlife warden.
The content of the letter was that they should initiate action to cut the trees at the baby dam site as per the Supreme Court order so as to strengthen the dam.
Another letter was sent on July 13, expressing dissatisfaction over the failure of the Forest Department officials to act on his first letter. In this letter, the principal secretary asked them to send a detailed report on their failure to take action. It is learnt that only after receiving the second letter, the Forest Department officials started taking steps to issue the tree felling order.
The allegation is that the forest minister was hiding all these facts even though he was aware of all these things that happened months ago.
CM remains silent after a week
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan continued to remain silent even a week after the issue snowballed into a major controversy. The tree-felling order was issued on November 5. Later, the state cabinet annulled the order. The inquiry by the chief secretary into the issue is now progressing.
Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine and Forest Minister A K Saseendran are taking contradictory stands on the issue.
Roshy reiterated that no meeting was held at the Water Resources Ministry Additional Chief Secretary TK Jose's official chamber on November 1 to discuss the issue. But Saseendran had told the state Assembly that he saw the minutes of the meeting. Saseendran has not yet withdrawn his statement, giving a clear picture of the kind of schism prevailing in the LDF Ministry on the issue.
