KANNUR: The Supreme Court order directing the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-controlled Pappinissery Eco Tourism Society (PETS) to stop all commercial activities at its mangrove theme park on the northern bank of the Valapattanam river here may be seen as a setback to those running the park and a victory for those opposing it.
But it also gives a breather to the society by offering a four-week time during which the controversial park will remain open with no commercial activities as directed by the court.While those opposing the park, including environmental activists, and the CPI(M) political adversaries view the Supreme Court directive as a victory of sorts, the CPI(M) and the society office-bearers are taking the apex court order as a fresh lease of life to the park riddled with controversy ever since it was opened on April 4. last.
“We are not going to close down the park in the wake of the Supreme Court order of August 31 because the order does not direct us to do so,” society president A.V. Ajayakumar told The Hindu when contacted on Wednesday.
The apex court said there should be no eco-tourism and commercial activities in the park, he said.
There had been no such activities since it was re-opened on August 22 following a decision of the High Court to grant a stay order against the Ministry of Environment and Forest's (MoEF) directive that the park be closed for breaching the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.He said the restaurant and the boating facilities in the park had already been closed as the park was now being used for education purpose. The society was only collecting Rs.10 as donation from those visiting the park, he said.
The society had already indicated, following the earlier High Court stay order against the MoEF, its willingness to re-brand the park as mangrove study and research centre as a way to deflect the criticism that the park had been established in an ecologically fragile area as a commercial eco-tourism project in violation of the CRZ rules. The park authorities take relief from the Supreme Court directive that asks the MoEF to issue notice to the society and allows PETS to file its reply.
UDF stand
Meanwhile, United Democratic Front (UDF) circles here say that the apex court order was a victory for the rule of law.
When contacted Congress leader Sunny Joseph said the apex court order, as he understood it, did not allow the park to remain open. The only consolation for the park authorities was that it allowed them to be heard in the matter by giving them time to reply to the notice to be issued by the MoEF, he said.
The park has been set up on a 4.85 hectare land close to the Valapattanam bridge on the National Highway.
The park established as part of the society's eco-tourism project has emerged as a major political issue here after the UDF parties took it over from the environmental groups that had initially raised objection to construction activities in the park in the fragile mangrove-rich area on the bank of the Valapattanam river.
Source: The Hindu, 2-9-2010
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