Kasaragod district panchayat president P.P. Shyamla Devi has assured compensation to the kin of victims suspected to have succumbed to illnesses caused due to prolonged aerial spraying of Endosulfan pesticide in cashew estates of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala in the district.
The district panchayat would take up the issue with the State government, Ms. Devi told the media here on Tuesday, a day after she assumed office.
The State government had disbursed Rs.50,000 each in 176 cases and the administration would take up the cause of 300 persons who died after leading a life of misery and trauma in the remote villages of the district.
Assuring a transparent and corruption-free administration, Ms. Devi said she would accord priority for reviving the agriculture sector and enhance productivity and employability of the agro-based economy of the district.
The district panchayat would take initiatives to improve basic infrastructure of all institutions under it, she said. The administration would accord priority to reach drinking water to all Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe colonies and initiatives to rejuvenate the ongoing waste management programme with an aim to turn Kasaragod as “zero waste district”.
