Environmentalists, nature-lovers, conservationists and social activists will stage a dharna before the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday protesting against the alleged breakdown of the State’s authority in Munnar and various other parts of Kerala, said K.A. Verghese, All-Kerala River Protection Council (AKRPC) secretary.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, Mr. Verghese said renowned social activist and Malayalam poet Sugathakumari would inaugurate the dharna at 10 am on Monday.
Socio-environmental activists, C.R. Neelakantan, Prof. Kunhikrishnan, John Peruvanthanam, Prof. Ramachandran Nair, Dr. A. Latha, Dr. C.M. Joy, Vijayaprakash Odanavattom, M.M. Suleiman, R. Ajayan and Sumesh Mangallassserry, will address the dharna.
Mr. Verghese alleged that by turning the spotlight on Tata and KHDP Company in Munnar, certain vested interests attached to the official machinery as well as political bigwigs were trying to help other encroachers escape the law, irrespective of their political or socio-economic status.
The AKRPC leader has called for a concerted effort by the people of Kerala, above all their political, religious and socio-economic differences, to “protect the pristine glory of the verdant green hill station of Munnar from the tentacles of the ever greedy land mafia with out any further delay.’’
“It is high time the democratically elected Government realised that it is bound to protect the interests of the common people and not that of the encroachers and law-breakers in Munnar,’’ Mr Verghese said.
