Puthuvype remained by and large peaceful on Monday, a day after the police action on local people who were agitating against the Indian Oil Corporation’s LPG storage facility coming up in the locality. But the chances of conciliatory moves materialising seemed remote with the action council spearheading the agitation expressing its reservations about the purpose of Wednesday’s meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has convened without any indication on the fate of the project.
The government came under pressure as a result of the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) rather hard stance on the police action. Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma also frowned on the police action against the popular agitation, in which women too were in the forefront. Puthuvype observed a hartal on Monday against the alleged police atrocity.
Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural, A V George’s suggestion of possible extremist links of the protests did not help matters as far as the State government was concerned. CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran termed the police action “a witch-hunt” against a popular agitation. He also did not buy the police argument that the agitation had links with extremist elements and attributed it to the police attempts to justify their action.
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The CPI’s reactions came on the heels of similar positions taken by Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Sunday. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who visited the site, blamed the police for pushing the agitation to a flashpoint through its actions.
According to the police, 81 persons, including 67 women, had been booked on rioting charges and were produced before the Njarackal Magistrate’s court. The court granted them bail, but the agitators wanted to be remanded in custody. However, the Magistrate reportedly maintained that they had been charged with petty cases that attracted only fines. Subsequently, the agitators left the court to rejoin the stir. The Kerala Latin Catholic Association, in a statement, urged the State government to settle the stir amicably, apart from seeking stern action against the erring officials.