Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Mathikettan shola among three new National Parks

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Oct. 1. The Mathikettan shola and four other sholas in Idukki district are to be declared as National Parks.

Sources in the Forest Department told The Hindu that the Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, was expected to announce the formation of the new National Parks at a function in Munnar tomorrow.

The State Government had requested the Union Minister for Forests and Environment, T.R. Baalu, to attend the function being organised in connection with `Wildlife Week' and make the announcement himself. Mr. Baalu, however, would not be attending the function due to a last-minute change in his programme.

Besides Mathikettan, the other areas being notified as National Parks are Pampadum shola, Mannavan shola, Idivara shola and Pullardi shola. These are not contiguous areas.

The proposal is to constitute three National Parks for these five sholas: one for Mathikettan, having an extent of 1,281.7419 hectares, another for Pampadum shola with an area of just 131.80 hectares and the third by clubbing Mannavan shola, Idivara shola and Pullardi shola, covering a total area of around 750 hectares. The third will be called Anamudi Shola National Park.

Mathikettan was in the centre of a controversy last year following media exposes on large-scale takeover of the pristine shola by land grabbers. The then District Collector was among the officials placed under suspension from service when an inquiry ordered by the Government pointed to their role in facilitating the encroachment.

This tract, comprising part of the Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR), was notified as a `Reserve Forest' by the erstwhile Travancore Government in 1897. Subsequently, portions of the territory were leased out for cardamom cultivation.

A major problem hampering protection efforts at the CHR was a Government notification providing for dual control in the region, with the Revenue Department having charge of the land and the Forest Department, the trees growing there. Following the controversy over the encroachments, the Government issued a notification in October last, giving total control of the Mathikettan shola to the Forest Department.

The other sholas too have been under serious threat in the recent times. The Government itself had undertaken a scheme to lay a road right through the Mannavan shola.

This scheme, which would have opened the doors for further land-grabbing and ultimate destruction of the forests there, was being undertaken, ironically, with the assistance of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

The Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to look into complaints relating to conservation issues directed the Government to stop this scheme on Monday.

The draft notifications on the constitution of the three National Parks describe the ``unique ecological, faunal, floral and geomorphological wealth'' of these sholas.

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