Normal life in Kerala was thrown out of gear on Monday in the 12-hour Statewide shutdown sponsored by the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF in protest against the Central move to implement certain proposals of the K Kasturirangan committee for protecting the Western Ghats even as the Catholic Church hit the streets to oppose the panel’s recommendations.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday asked the lDF to explain why it was observing the hartal, which cost the State Rs 900 crore. The Statewide shutdown started at 6.00 am on Monday but the 48-hour “Stay on the Streets” agitation sponsored by the High Range Protection Committee, an outfit of settler farmers actively backed by the Church, against the Kasturirangan committee proposals, began on midnight Sunday bringing all public activities in the mountainous district to a screeching halt.
Chandy alleged that the left was proving its hypocrisy over the Western Ghats report as State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier written to him in favour of Kasturirangan committee’s proposals. While considering a petition, the Kerala High Court criticised the sponsors of the hartal by asking them to explain what advantages it would bring to the State.
“Have those who sponsor this hartal read the Kasturirangan panel reportIJ” the court asked, adding shutdowns would only slow down the State’s progress. Protests had been going on in Kerala’s settler-dominated areas since Thursday against the panel’s proposals. In several places, these agitations had given rise to violent incidents like torching of public vehicles, destr-uction of Government offices and attacks on police.
In Idukki and Wayanad districts, Monday saw the second shutdown in three days over the same issue. The left-sponsored shutdown was total and relatively incident-free in all districts of the State except northernmost Kasaragod, where it did not have much impact as private buses plied. In all the remaining 13 districts, shops, commercial establishments and industrial houses remained closed while public vehicles kept off the roads.
In Kochi, the State’s commercial capital, industrial areas went out of function while port activities remained suspended. Incidents of stone-pelting on vehicles of pilgrims bound for the lord Ayyappa shrine of Sabarimala were reported from Kochi city and the suburban towns of Kakkanad and Thripunithura.
The hartal, however, did not affect the pilgrimage. In fact, the hill shrine saw the heaviest rush of devotees in the first three days of this year’s annual pilgrimage that started on Saturday. Pilgrims said that they had not encountered any major problems with respect to travel or availability of food on the way.
Streets of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city, wore a deserted look on Monday and the work of the administrative nerve-centre, the State Secretariat, was hit as attendance of employees was skeletal. Only five members of the Cabinet, including Chief Minister Chandy, attended office at the Secretariat on Monday.
The Government had made tight security arrangements by deploying additional police personnel in areas believed to be vulnerable in the context of the violent incidents that had occurred since Thursday. Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said compensation would be extracted from those who indulged in destruction of public property.
In Idukki, the district with the largest number of settler farmers, normal life came to a standstill due to the 48-hour “Stay on the Streets” struggle proved total with farmers, political parties and the Catholic Church joining in agitation for which children, women and Christian priests and nuns came out on the streets.
The authorities have deployed over 2,500 policemen in the district to ensure security especially as the agitators have threatened to lay siege to the power house at Moolamattam, the power processing centre of the giant Idukki hydel project, in the second leg of their struggle. People were seen preparing food on the streets as part of their resolve to stay outside for 48 hours.