Kerala govt’s desperate bid to pacify unrest over buffer zone issue

In a bid to pacify the mounting protest against the buffer zone issue, the state government on Tuesday decided to give more time to the public to raise objections over the satellite survey report on structures in the buffer zone released recently.

A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also decided to seek more time from Supreme Court for submitting details of human habitats in the one-kilometre buffer zone from the borders of forests.

With many prominent churches in the high ranges strongly flaying the left-front government over the issue and launching stirs, a delegation of ministers called on major archbishop-catholicos of the Syro-Malankara Catholic church Baselios Cleemis in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

It triggered speculations that the Pinarayi Vijayan government is again seeking the help of Cleemis for mediation. Cleemis had recently successfully mediated with the Thiruvananthapuram Latin Catholic church to end the stir against Vizhinjam port.