Resentment brewing in Kerala over official being made 'scapegoat' in Mulliperiyar dam issue

Resentment is brewing amongst forest department officials in Kerala as a senior IFS officer was placed under suspension in connection with the Mullaperiyar tree felling row even as it was quite evident that many other senior officials in the government were also part of the decision.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and chief wildlife warden Bennichen Thomas was suspended on Wednesday on charges of issuing the order allowing Tamil Nadu to cut 15 trees near the Mullaperiyar dam at Idukki in Kerala and keeping the government in the dark.

Head of Forest Force P K Kesavan and IFS Association Kerala chapter was learned to have conveyed the resentment to the government.

Senior officials, including those in additional chief secretary rank, were also privy to the decision to allow Tamil Nadu to fell the trees as the decision was taken at high-level meetings. Even then, action was limited to the forest department official despite issuing the order as per the norms. The officer was indeed made a scapegoat, said a forest department official.

Even as Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran and Water Resources Minister Roshy Agustine were reiterating that neither them nor the Chief Minister were in the dark about the decision, it has come out that the decision to allow Tamil Nadu to cut the trees was even mentioned in a statement filed by the Kerala government before the Supreme Court on October 27. Hence, the government is on the defensive over the row.

The decision to allow Tamil Nadu to cut trees became controversial in Kerala as the former wanted to do this to strengthen the baby dam attached to the main dam. A ministerial delegation from Tamil Nadu that visited the dam last week stated that once the baby dam was strengthened, the water level of the Mullaperiyar would be raised up to 152 feet. But Kerala is opposed to raising the water level beyond 140 feet citing safety concerns over the 126-year-old dam and was demanding decommissioning the dam and constructing a new one. Hence, the order allowing Tamil Nadu to cut trees to strengthen the baby dam triggered a row in Kerala.

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