Hundreds of political, social and environmental activists held a march to the Assembly on Wednesday to press for implementation of the >Gadgil committee report for conservation of the Western Ghats.
Inaugurating the march, poet Sugathakumari said the implementation of the Gadgil report was essential for saving the Western Ghats. Chairing the meeting, Gadgil Committee member V.S. Vijayan said the committee’s effort was to check indiscriminate mining and development activities in the Western Ghats so that the lives of all the people who depended on it could be made secure.
Participating in the rally, Congress MLAs V.D. Satheesan and T. N. Prathapan said there was no question of their succumbing before the religious and communal forces who had unleashed a campaign against the Gadgil committee report and the support extended to them by persons such as the Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan.
BJP leader V. Muralidharan, CPI leader Mullakkara Rathnakaran, K. Ajitha, M. K. Prasad, C. R. Neelakandan, P.J. James, C. K. Lukose, Laha Gopalan, Kummanam Rajasekharan, T. Peter, N. K. Sasidharan Pillai, N. Subramanian, Sonia George, Azad, John Peruvanthanam, Purushan Eloor, Latha, S. Anitha, S. Usha, among others, participated in the rally.