After the meeting with the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers and senior officials, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan was slated to address a Press conference at 2.30 pm as informed to the media by the State information department and Press Information Bureau.
However, the Minister was about to leave the Secretariat after the meeting about an hour before the stated time of the Press conference. When some electronic media representatives requested her to give a few bytes, the Minister along with the CM and Cabinet ministers addressed the media in brief without taking a seat.
This hurried and brief interaction with the media prevented many from attending the Press conference and also saved the Minister from facing questions about allegations of environment aspects being ignored by the MoEF in favour of hydro-electric projects approved in the State and other issues. The Minister failed to address burning issues like haphazard development causing environmental degradation and exacerbating the damage caused by the disaster. When asked about eco-sensitive zones, the Minister simply stressed on the need for achieving balance between development and ecological conservation.