Amboori action council to take out march today

Thiruvananthapuram: The Amboori action council will take out a protest march on Tuesday to the forest headquarters here against the draft notification declaring 2.72km around the boundary of Neyyar and Peppara wildlife sanctuaries as eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). The members of the action council said that ESZ was prepared based on aerial surveys and without conducting any field checks.
“Once ESZ is implemented in these panchayats, there will be many restrictions and prohibitions on human activities. Forest laws will be implemented on revenue land, which will make people’s lives miserable and they will be forced to flee from this area,” said Amboori action council convener Rev Fr Jacob Cheerumvelil.
For the last two months, protests have been carried out by the action council demanding cancellation of the draft notification.
The council had prepared scientific report with the help of experts to support their demand to exclude Amboori from ESZ. Ward-level awareness programmes, hartal and mass gatherings were also held.
“People living in this area are farmers and agriculturists.They have built an eco-friendly and sustainable relationship with the environment. The population density is high in these panchayats (Amboori-250/km2 and Kallikadu-675/km2). The people of this region includes both tribal people residing mainly in the forest area and migrated people mainly from the Central Travancore ,” the council pointed out.
Kallikadu, Amboori and Vazhichal are the three villages falling within the ESZ of Neyyar wildlife sanctuary as per the draft notification. Mannorkara and Vithura are the two villages falling within the ESZ of Peppara wildlife sanctuary.
Neyyar & Peppara wildlife sanctuaries are the southernmost protected areas in Kerala and form part of core area of the Agasthayamalai Biosphere Reserve and also part of Periyar Elephant Reserve in Western Ghats.