A joint action council of environmental activists and people of Kalanjur panchayat, near Pathanapuram, in the district began an indefinite relay Satyagraha in front of the panchayat office on Monday demanding immediate closure of three granite quarries and a manufactured sand plant (sand making plant) operating there. The quarries are at Kalliparamala, Inchapara and Rakshasanpara, and the sand plant is at Pothupara.
Convener of the action council M.G. Santosh Kumar said that the agitation against the quarries and the plant was more than two years old.
He said that quarrying was being carried out in violation of a Supreme Court order. Inaugurating the Satyagraha, environmental activist B.R.P. Bhaskar said that any development activity carried out by destroying the environment would only prove to be self destructive. He called upon the Kalanjur panchayat authorities to be on the side of the people instead of turning a blind eye to the quarries that were causing serious environmental degradation in the area.
The agitation being launched was in the interests of the future generations, he said.
Environmental activists C.R. Neelakantan, Chengara agitation leader Laha Gopalan, Hindu Aikya Vedi State secretary Thekkadam Sudarsanan, Mathew Varghese, Sleeba Das, Scaria Thomas and Socialist Democratic Party of India leader Jyothish Perumbulikkal spoke.
The protesters took out a procession to the panchayat office from the Kudal Stadium junction.
The march was led by Rajan Puthenpurakkal, Dinesh Kulathuman and M.G. Santosh Kumar. The relay satyahgraha on Monday was led by Koshy Samuel, George Akkarakalayil and T.K. Damodaran..
