The State government which says that there will be a blanket ban on any type of development in the Western Ghats as per the K. Kasturirangan report has at the same time closed its eyes to the environmental destruction happening in Aranmula for a private airport, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was speaking after releasing the book ‘PG - Sahithyam, Samskaaram, Orma,’ a collection of unpublished essays of litterateur P. Govinda Pillai, at the Press Club here on Friday.
“Anyone who visits the area marked for the Aranmula airport can see that it is going to come up over fertile paddy fields.
“The environmental clearance to such a project was granted easily without considering these facts. The influence of big money is clear in this case,” said Mr. Vijayan.
On the Kasturirangan report, he said that the party stands for environmentalism which has space for the concerns of the people.
Consultations and discussions between the people, scientists, farmers and other stakeholders should be carried out before arriving at a conclusion, the CPI(M) leader said.
He said that the Kerala society is witnessing a reversal of the achievements of the renaissance period due to the influence of religionist and casteist forces and due to unbridled consumerism. People like PG should be honoured by raising our voices against such tendencies in society, he added.
