Cardinal George Alencherry expresses his worries about eco-sensitive zones the order of the Supreme Courts of India. The order will lead to displacing about a million people in the southern state of Kerala, says Cardinal George Alencherry
The head of the Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church has expressed concern over the likely eviction of some 150,000 families from wildlife sanctuaries and parks in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
India’s Supreme Court on June 3 declared all places within a kilometer around protected forest areas as eco-sensitive zones (ESZs). “No new permanent structure shall be permitted to come up for whatsoever purpose within the ESZ,” ruled a bench headed by Judge L. Nageswara Rao and comprising B.R. Gavai and Aniruddha Bose.
The order makes panic among people living around the 24 declared sanctuaries and parks in Kerala, compelling Cardinal George Alencherry, who is based in the state, to describe it as “a really worrisome” development.
In a statement issued on June 9, he pointed out that the order, if implemented in its current form, will dislocate close to a million people in a tiny state like Kerala alone.
“Environment protection has always been the policy of the Church. But imposing the entire burden of environmental protection on those living in regions bordering the forest is unfair,” the statement said.
Cardinal Alencherry, who is also president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, said it had appealed to the communist-led provincial government to appraise the top court about the difficulties and repercussions of implementing its order.
“Our people have been living around these protected forests for ages. Where will they go now?” Meanwhile, more than a million people living in the forested hills of Idukki called a dawn-to-dusk shutdown on July 10 in protest against the order. The district has eight wildlife sanctuaries and the order will likely displace hundreds of thousands of families.