The Federal Ministry of Environment and Forests ordered the closure of the park last week following a report by a panel of experts that said the park was set up in violation of coastal regulations.
The experts visited the site recently on a petition by K. Sudhakaran, the Congress party MP from the region.
“Don’t expect us to shut the park simply on an order from Jayaram Ramesh, minister of state for environment and forests. He took the decision at the instance of his friend Sudhakaran,” CPI-M District Secretary P. Sashi said. “We are not supposed to take orders from him.”
The Congress-led United Democratic Front has been up in arms against the park ever since its establishment in April saying it was built on encroached riverbed and it would endanger state’s largest stretch of natural mangrove forests.
“The inquiry team has found serious flaws. The park is functioning in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991. So it has to stop all its activities immediately,” said the order which was posted on the ministry’s website on Wednesday.
Authorities have been directed to close down the park immediately and the state government has been asked to submit a report on the action taken within 15 days. The ministry has also constituted a high-level committee to assess the damages caused to the ecologically sensitive area.
The park on the banks of Valapattanam river was the second tourism venture of the party in the district after an amusement park at nearby Parassinikkadavu nearly two years ago.
The party also runs a host of business ventures in the district apart from a few hospitals — all in cooperative sector.
The row erupted after the environmental activists engaged in conservation of mangroves in the area were severely beaten up by the CPI-M activists for campaigning against it on the day of its launch by film star Suresh Gopi in April.
