Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V.S. Achuthanandan on Thursday told the Assembly that unregulated development at the expense of the environment had magnified the monsoon havoc in the State.
In an open rebuke to doubters of climate change and environmental degradation, Mr. Achuthanandan said the catastrophic floods worsened by landslips had proven Madhav Gadgil, the head of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert (WGEP) panel, right.
Gadgil had recommended strict regulations to conserve the Western Ghats. However, the State viewed his recommendations politically and not scientifically. That was a mistake, he told a special session of th Assembly convened to discuss the deluge.
(Certain quarters had opposed the report as anti-farmer and spurned its proposal for stricter environmental regulations.)
Consequently, flawed policies, formulated under pressure from vested interest groups, had opened the door for the razing of hills, encroachment of forests, reclamation of wetlands, damming of streams and rivers and illegal quarrying.
In an oblique reference to the government’s catchphrase "new Kerala," Mr. Achuthanandan said the mantra of development should not become a deafening and discordant noise that drowned all other points of view and calls to exercise caution.
Even as Kerala sought to rebuild itself, the State should draw the borderline between piecemeal development and sustainable growth. In the backdrop of the floods, the government should scientifically define what it meant by development.
It should not allow nature to be ravaged under the label of economic progress. The government should stop illegal quarrying and protect ecologically fragile lands.
It should forego the practice of authorising illegal constructions and encroachments. There should be a rethink on mega development projects, including Vizhinjam. Development should not end up being calamitous to people.
Mr. Achuthanandan said development should be by a master plan and not in fit and starts.
The former Chief Minister, whose drive against illegal constructions in Munnar earned him the name that he was “anti-development,” said elements who cast such names on people who were pro-environment had other interests at heart. Law should not bend before such forces, he said.
He criticised the Central government for the recent arrests of Left intellectuals and writers on the group that they were Maoist sympathisers. “The RSS is stifling free speech and trying to isolate Kerala from bouncing back from the calamity,” he said.