KANNUR: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy has flayed the State Government's reported move to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court declaring the Cardamom Hills Reserve (CHR) areas in Idukki as forest areas.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Chandy said the farmers and party workers at Nedunkandam in Idukki expressed concern over the Government's reported move to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the CHR formed part of the forest areas.

He said the CHR included towns and large extent of areas traditionally under cultivation. Any move to declare CHR as forest areas would affect thousands of farmers in the area.

Urging the Government to abandon the reported move, Mr. Chandy said all activities aimed at conserving forests should be practical. If the Government was planning to go ahead with the move, the United Democratic Front (UDF) would resort to agitation.

A meeting of farmers would be convened at Nedumkandam on February 9 to discuss the course of action, he said. The Opposition Leader asked the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government to intervene to check spiralling price rise in the State.

He said the prices of essential commodities recorded a hike of 30 to 100 per cent. Instead of intervening to check the price rise, the Government was shirking responsibility by terming it as an all India phenomenon, he said. If the State Government did not do what it could do to check the price rise, the UDF would resort to strong agitation, he said.

A UDF meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on February 6 would discuss the issue. Mr. Chandy said the agitation by Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its feeder organisations against courts would affect the independent and impartial functioning of the courts.

The efforts of the party in power to use its muscle power to intimidate the courts would have far reaching consequences. He said the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists who staged a symbolic `deportation' of the former High Court Chief Justice V.K. Bali on his retirement day were in fact symbolically deporting Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

Mr. Chandy reiterated his demand that the Government desist from the move to set up the Higher Education Council through an Ordinance as a body empowered to control universities in the State established under separate enactments.

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