KOCHI: The controversial eco-tourism project, launched by the CPM-backed Pappinissery Eco-Tourism Society (PETS) in the mangrove-rich areas on the banks of Valapattanam river, is expected to get a new lease of life. The project was closed in July 2010 after the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests found that it is violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).The society hopes for a favourable verdict after the state’s approval for the Skycity project has been sought last month. The society claims that the report on the park, submitted to the Union Environment Ministry in August 2010, was biased. The park had been reopened in August 2010 for a few days but was closed down again.PETS filed a plea in the Supreme Court in May 2001 against the closure order issued by the Kerala HC.“At present, the case is being fought in the Supreme Court. We are still firm that no rules have been violated by the society. The park was an initiative by the LDF Government to conserve the mangroves and utilise them for eco-living in the region. The society had planned to set up a centre to research on mangrove’s medicinal properties and a bird sanctuary inside the park,” CPM leader E P Jayarajan said.“The place was used as a dumping yard before, the society has turned it into an eco-friendly area. The T C S Nair Committee’s report to the Union Ministry of Environment was politically- biased,” he added.“The park was constructed illegally violating CRZ rules, which has been already proved in the court. We will not tolerate any act by the PETS damaging ecosystem at the Pappinissery mangroves, which is ecologically fragile,” Kannur DCC president P K Vijayaraghavan said.
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