Another bout of protest against the upcoming cooking gas storage and receiving complex on Puthuvype island is in the offing with the Puthuvype LPG Terminal Virudha Janakiya Samara Samithy (People’s Combine Against the Puthuvype LPG Terminal) deciding to hold a dharna by ‘mothers’ before the State Secretariat on Monday.
The dharna is scheduled to be inaugurated by Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and will be addressed by the Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram Soosa Pakiam, according to organisers. Samithy chairman A.B. Jayaghosh said a protest meeting held on Sunday was inaugurated by vicar of St. Sebastian’s Church Fr. Sijo George.
Speaking for the protesters, Mr. Jayaghosh said they did not want the storage facility on the island as it posed a threat to the lives of people in the nearby area. He said the protesters had proposed building the storage facility at Ambalamugal on the land acquired from FACT by the State government, close to the proposed petrochemicals and pharma park complex.
Indian Oil Corporation has said that the project had all the statutory clearances and was given the go-ahead by the National Green Tribunal. The officials have maintained that the facilities, including the storage complex, would feature the latest safety measures.
Work on the project has been stopped since February 2017 when an indefinite protest was launched by the islanders. Mr. Ghosh said the protest was more than 485 days old and the protest action on June 17 and 18 was to mark the anniversary of police action against the protesters in June last year.
