A local CPI(M) leader has been forced to resign from the Kottur grama panchayat council following allegations of accepting bribe to suppress a mass agitation against a quarrying lobby at Chengottumala in the district.
Sources said that T.K. Raginlal, who represented Ward II of the grama panchayat, quit from the post after the party leadership asked him to do so. He was on the party branch committee as well as holding the post of treasurer of the Avidanallur area committee of the DYFI.
For quite sometime, the ward member had been facing flak for siding with the quarrying lobby and objecting to the local agitation. The CPI(M) and its youth affiliate have also removed him. Also, several other local party leaders, who took a stand against the agitation have also been dropped from the party.
The CPI(M) was on the defensive since the local people irrespective of party affiliations joined the evolving protest, sources said.
Agitation spreads
K. Jayarajan, one of the leaders of the Chengottumala Samrakshana Samiti, told The Hindu here on Thursday that a Pathanamthitta-based quarrying company had acquired 220 acres, purportedly for cultivating organic turmeric in the region. However, the company changed its stand and secured a permission from the district administration for beginning a quarry crusher unit.
“We were forced to form a protection group after we got the information through an RTI petition. Subsequently, many of the agitating leaders were arrested after a protest,” Mr. Jayarajan said.
Now the agitation has spread to all wards of the grama panchayat. The grama sabhas of wards I, II, III and XVI had also adopted resolutions against the quarrying activities. “The neighbouring grama panchayats of Kayanna and Nochard are taking up the cause as the quarrying will affect the local people in their regions too,” he said.
