The farmers of Kavilumpara panchayat in Kozhikode are planning to protest against the inclusion of the panchayat under the tag of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) as per the Kasturirangan report.
Representatives of the Pashchimaghatta Janasamrakshana Samithi told reporters here on Wednesday that the farmers have no other means as even the politicians who supported the movement are caught up in the local body poll frenzy even as time is running out for corrections.
Patron of the samithi, George Theendappara said that the inclusion under ESA was the result of a mistake made by the six member committee, headed by the president of the Panchayat, in the report submitted to the Kerala Biodiversity Board and in turn to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
While Kavilumpara consists of only residential areas and farm land, the report states that it is a mixture of residential, farm and forest land, which has caused the said classification.
After the samithi pointed out the mistake, the six-member committee has made the correction and submitted a revised report to the board. The Board has published the revised report in its website recently. But the change has to come into effect in the Ministry website for the panchayat to be excluded from ESA, Fr.Theendappara said.
Convenor of the samithi, Joy Kannanchira said that around 10,000 people of the panchayat will be affected if their land is classified under ESA. This will prevent any developmental activities in the region forever.
As part of the planned protest, a massive protest rally will be held at Thottilpalam at 4 p.m. on October 25.
Other protest measures will be taken up in the following days to draw the attention of the authorities to the issue, he said.
Samithi says 10,000 people will be affected
Ministry yet to rectify error on
its website
