Kerala's forest cover increased by three per cent:Vishwom

Thiruvananthpuram, May 17 (UNI) Kerala Forest Minister Binoy Vishwom today said the state had declared about 50,000 acres as reserve forest in the last one year, an increase of three per cent forest land.

This included 22,253.32 acres of land at Mangulam. The notification declaring the area at Mangulam was issued yesterday, he told reporters here, while detailing the performance of his ministry during its first year in office.

Apart from this, another 17,000 acres of land would be soon declared as forest area. Declaring Mangulam area as reserve forest would help to curtail encraochers, as it was difficult now to take action under the forest laws, Mr Viswom said.

There could be some protests after the declaration as the encroachers could start agitations in the name of farmers, he said adding the government was not against farmers, but against encroachers.

Stressing that the Left Democratic Front government would not compromise with the encroachers and also take stern action against ganja cultivators, he said the declaration of ''Neelakurunji Sanctuary'' as a reserve forest had dealt a severe blow to the encroachers.

Pointing out that the government had come down heavily on the sandalwood mafias especially in Marayur, Mr Vishwom said the forest, revenue and police departments were jointly fighting against sandalwood mafias.

The Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments had also joined together to fight the mafias, he said. Officials from the two states would meet on May 25 for discussions in this regard.

The proposal for establishing a second tiger wild life sanctuary in the state was almost finalised. ''All official documents were cleared,'' he said.

Another major decision in the offing was to establish a peacock sanctuary at Chulannur in Palakkad, besides to developing ''Coastal forest'' and sapplings.

UNI