Even as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] continued its agitation in front of the Kannur Collectorate seeking to address the grievances of the tribal families living in and around the Aralam farm, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy held an emergency meeting of various political parties to sort out the issue at the Government Guest House here on Friday.
Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Schedule Tribe Welfare Minister P.K. Jayalakshmi, and various political party leaders from Kannur participated in the closed-door meeting.
Boundary wall
The meeting deliberated threadbare the host of issues faced by the tribal families living around the Aralam farm with the residents complaining of frequent attacks by wild elephants.
The farm has an 11-km boundary wall of which a 6-km stretch is a solar-powered fence.
The elephants were reportedly intruding into the farm by damaging the solar-powered fence.
The meeting is reported to have decided to dig trench in 3-km stretch and rail fencing in the remaining portion.
The meeting is understood to have asked the Tribal Development Mission to earmark Rs.3 crore to erect rail fencing, which has been found successful in the neighbouring Karnataka.
It also assured to sanction Rs.1 crore to build houses for the tribal families.
Indefinite strike
With the meeting managing to address most of the issues faced by the tribal families, there may be an end in sight to the indefinite strike in Kannur.
CPI(M) Kannur district Secretary P. Jayarajan, who took part in the meeting, said a decision to end the strike would be taken after holding talks with the agitating leaders.
The meeting was also attended by MLAs from Kannur T.V. Rajesh, Sunny Joseph, and James Mathew; Kannur District Collector P. Balakiran, and senior Forest Department officials.
