War on quarries gets tougher at Valakkavu

Thrissur: Malayora Samrakshana Samiti, a group of residents protesting against quarries on the alleged forest land at Valakkavu in Nadathara Panchayat, and workers and owners of six shut down quarries and four crusher units there are observing separate indefinite fasts before the Collectorate here. The Samiti had begun its indefinite day-night fast on Wednesday and others will start their protest for reopening the units on Friday. Samiti had come out against the LDF government for allegedly betraying them by not issuing the order to cancel the license of the units located near their homes.

Samithi leader Joby Kaippangal said after their 34-day day-night protest that included laying siege to the collector’s office, a meeting was held between the protestors and revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan in the presence of agriculture minister V. S. Sunil Kumar, Ollur MLA K. Rajan and Wadakkanchery MLA Anil Akkara on August 2 in Thiruvananthapuram. They were given in writing that the license of the quarries and crushers would be cancelled within a month. But, even after nearly two months, the government had not yet come up with such an order, he noted.

Meanwhile, the quarry owners on Thursday alleged that the protest against their units started after they refused to buy 2.5 acres of land possessed by Mr Kaippangal’s family for a hefty amounted which he demanded. The samiti refuted the allegations citing that they had audio recordings of the quarry owners offering '3.5 crore to the land concerned while doing a compromise talk to call off the protest by residents.