Violent protests broke out across Kerala’s mountainous areas inhabited by settler farmers on Friday in response to the Centre’s notification to stop all construction and developmental activities in areas that had been identified as eco-sensitive of the Ghats in the proposals of the K Kasturirangan committee report for protecting the mountain ranges.
Tension was prevailing even late Friday evening at Adivaram, Thamarassery in Kozhikode district where the police were forced to fire in the air following violent protests by settlers during the 12-hour shutdown called by the CPI(M)-lDF in five panchayats. Many Government vehicles were set afire and many Government offices came under attack during the hartal.
The police fired in the air after they came under heavy stone-pelting and a Superintendent of Police was held hostage by the protesters. Several policemen and protesters suffered injuries. The lDF has called for a day-long shutdown on Saturday in Idukki and Wayanad districts, Attappadi in Palakkad and 20 panchayats of Kannur district.
The protests are expected to assume the form of a civil disobedience movement as the High Range Protection Council, a forum of settler farmers in Idukki, has decided to lay siege to the power projects in the district, forcibly close schools and Government offices, disallow traffic, block tourists and not to pay taxes. They will also stop repaying various loans.
The Central decision has triggered protests as the settler farmers believe that the implementation of the report would lead to large-scale eviction of settlers from 123 villages on the Kerala Western Ghats which have been identified as highly eco-sensitive and stoppage of all cultivation and development activities.
The Centre's decision and the protests against it have already begun to threaten the very existence of the Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala with the Kerala Congress (M), the third major party in the ruling coalition, joining hands with the left in the agitation giving out clear signals of possible realignments in the coming lok Sabha polls.
Appalled by this prospect and the magnitude of the protests, CM Oommen Chandy on Friday sought to mitigate the fears of the settlers by assuring them that there would be no displacement of farmers but the Syro-Malabar Church, which leads the agitations in Idukki and elsewhere, said the promises of the Government could not be trusted anymore.
On Thursday evening, a large number of farmers and local residents at Chungakkunnu, Kottiyoor held five Union Forest officials hostage. At least 15 Government vehicles were destroyed in the violence that followed and about 15 policemen including a DySP suffered injuries. The hostages were released 10 hours later on the assurances given by the Kannur District Collector.
Most shutdown-hit areas of Kozhikode district saw widespread violence and clashes with police on Friday. The protesters torched several vehicles and pelted stones at many Government offices. In Thamarassery, the office of the Forest Rang Officer was set afire and employees at the KSEB office at Omassery had to flee their office when it came under attack.
A BSNl office came under attack at Thamarassery. In several places, protesters clashed with the police leading to injuries on both sides. However, the policemen present in many places were no match to the protesters as people kept on coming into the towns from the mountain ranges in trucks throughout the day, Friday.
Major Archbishop Mar George Cardinal Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Church said the people in the high ranges were sure to adopt a clear position in the next election against those who were supporting the proposals of the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan panels. He said the various Christian churches in Kerala were united against the proposals.
The Congress, trapped between the compulsion of having to stand by the orders of its own Government at the Centre and the prospects of losing the support of the settler farmers of the high ranges, is accusing the left of cashing in on the situation with its eyes riveted on the coming lok Sabha elections.
left with no option, Chief Minister Chandy even went to the extent of criticising the Centre's decision to implement the Kasturirangan committee proposals without taking the State Government into confidence. He said the Centre had issued the notification without taking into consideration the peculiarities of Kerala in comparison to the other States.