The Communist Party of India has called for a detailed and just probe into the alleged unlawful land deals taking place in the name of the proposed private airport project at Aranmula and the support extended to it by the Union and State Governments.
Inaugurating a public meeting held as part of the public awareness march staged by the CPI district committee at Aranmula, the party district secretary, P. Prasad, alleged an unholy nexus between certain ruling quarters and the land mafia in converting the ecologically fragile wetlands and paddy fields at Aranmula in the name of a private airport project.
Mr Prasad has called upon the Government to take immediate steps to launch cultivation in Aranmula puncha (paddy fields).
He said a democratically elected Government was duty-bound to ensure food and drinking water to the people. However, the stand taken by both the Centre and the State, totally disregarding the public concern over the environment and ecological degradation in store, in the event of paddy field and wetland conversion, was highly deplorable, he said.
Mr Prasad said the CPI would intensify the agitation against the move to convert the wetlands and paddy fields at Aranmula in the name of a proposed private airport.
The CPI leader further called for a CBI probe into the clearances granted for the airport project by the Defence Ministry, Union Ministry for Forests and Environment and the in-principle clearance for the project by the State Government.
A.P. Jayan, CPI State committee member; A.K. Muraleedhara Kurup, Valsamma Mathew, A.M. Aji and R. Saratchandrakumar, district council members, also spoke.
The CPI public awareness march led by Mr Muraleedhara Kurup, was accorded rousing reception in different parts of the villages of Aranmula, Kidangannur and Mallapuzhasserry on Sunday.
