It is the tactic of the opposition to spread unwarranted fear and concerns in any issue. This is the same tactic played by whoever comes to opposition. To destabilize the government, they would add some untruths to the facts. In the buffer zone issue, there is an effort to spread concerns. There was also an attempt by the churches for a protest against the government. To break this, Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that the satellite survey report is not final.

The satellite survey was done to make it clear how the Supreme Court verdict in the buffer zone issue will affect Kerala. However, the government told that the satellite survey report is not final when it realized that it does not include everything.

The government’s stance is that a final report will be submitted to the SC only after getting the field examination report by expert committee headed by Justice Thottathil Radhakrishnan. This is favorable to the people. 115 panchayats have concerns about the buffer zone. Here the field report and data of the buildings must be done fast by local self-governments. The government must make every effort to include those constructions left out in the satellite survey. The final report must be accepted by the people before submitting to the SC and the central government.

Help desks have been started in all the 115 panchayats to address the concerns of the people concerning the reserve area. Without falling into false propaganda, the people must approach the help desks to get a clear understanding. If a person’s house or institution is not included, they can file a complaint at the help desk.

It is not practical to evacuate people in the name of buffer zones. Meanwhile, destroying forests and encroaching on forest area cannot be accepted again. We all know that encroachment of forest area has resulted in frequent landslides in high-range areas. At the same time, the population density of Kerala is also high. Hope these are also taken into consideration by the expert committee.

Together with avoiding populated areas, the forests must be protected too. Government must allow more time for people to submit their complaints to the expert committee. The government must also manual-survey where it is needed. If the report is submitted after studying the issue objectively and deeply, then SC might avoid populated areas from buffer zone. For that the stance of the government and the expert committee is very vital.

At the same time, the people living in the buffer zone must be cautious not to fall into false propaganda. If everyone stands united there is nothing that can be solved through constitutional methods.