The Communist Party of India (CPI) will not permit the destruction of paddy fields, wetlands, and natural water sources in Aranmula in the name of development, party State secretary Pannian Raveendran has said.
He was inaugurating a rally and public meeting organised by the Kerala Mahila Sanghom at Aranmula on Friday in protest against the proposed private airport project at Aranmula that required large-scale conversion of paddy fields and wetlands.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) decision to include the airport project in the Emerging Kerala - 2012 meet to be held in Kochi in September was part of an ‘unholy deal' with the promoters of the project in the backdrop of the ensuing Neyyattinkara Assembly by-election, he said.
The government had been turning a blind to the indiscriminate conversion of paddy fields and wetlands by a real-estate lobby at Aranmula, blatantly flouting all laws of the land. The CPI was not against setting up an airport or bringing in any development. But, it should not be at the cost of the environment or by taking away the common man's right to live, he said. Hills had been razed, a natural stream diverted, and over 100 acres of paddy fields and wetlands illegally converted at Aranmula. The government should take stern action against the culprits and reconvert the land without delay, he said.
Mr. Raveendran said the CPI had been protesting against the project for a decade now and it would continue its agitation, he added.
Addressing the gathering, CPI district secretary P. Prasad said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy should instruct those concerned to get the reconversion of the paddy fields done. No more conversion of paddy fields would be permitted. The Agriculture Department should take steps to launch cultivation in the Aranmula puncha (paddy fields). Indira Raveendran, Kerala Mahila Sanghom State working president, presided over the meeting. A.K. Muraleedhara Kurup, People's Action Council convener spoke.
