THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The opposition has come to the fore against the change in stance of minister A K Saseendran, who stated in the last assembly session that he will cancel the 2019 cabinet decision on the buffer zone issue. The opposition demanded to cancel the cabinet decision and the government order. In a 2019 cabinet decision, one kilometre around the protected forest area was designated as buffer zone. But the ministerial committee of 2020 came up with the amendment of excluding residential areas. The decision was ratified by the cabinet in 2020. Hence, there is no need to correct the cabinet’s decision, explained the minister in the assembly. Based on this, the necessary documents and information have been provided to the centre to issue the final notification, said the minister.

However, questioning this, Opposition Leader V D Satheesan asked how the 2020 ministerial committee can correct a decision made in 2019. He alleged that the buffer zone is a dangerous situation and that the government and the forest minister are fully responsible for everything. Meantime, Sunny Joseph criticized that the government's stance on the matter was not positive. Minister Saseendran argued that if the cabinet decision is revoked, it will be interpreted as an attempt to override the Supreme Court verdict. This is the reason for avoiding densely populated areas. In the notifications submitted to the central government, populated areas were excluded. Kerala is the only state that has approached the Supreme Court in the regard, added the minister.