Kannur: CPM workers allegedly set ablaze the temporary shed of Vayal Kilikal, the action council protecting 250 acres of paddy fields in Keezhattoor in the district, on Wednesday.
They burnt the venue soon after the police took away protesters who stopped officials came to survey the land for a bypass.
The group had called off their indefinite hunger strike in September after the state government offered a review and had been preventing any attempt to survey the land.
The village witnessed violent scenes from the morning when the officials accompanied by a massive police force came for the survey. A mob with fuel-soaked dress threatened they would immolate. The police led by Taliparamba DySP Venugopal then asked officials to keep off.
The police had earlier suggested deferring the survey as the mob might go out of control. But CPM workers who camped there insisted on it. The situation continued tense till noon.
In the afternoon when the officials started surveying, the agitators again went to block them, which ended up in their arrests.
Soon after their removal, CPM workers burnt the temporary hut that served as the venue of their long agitation. All the arrested later went out on bail and their leader Suresh Keezhattoor said the agitation would be on until the end. “I am shocked some comrades of my party set ablaze our samara pandal soon after our arrest,” he told DC. "We’ll resume the agitation as usual on Thursday." Vayal Kilikal, or paddy birds, resumed their agitation as the NHAI issued a notification on January 4, creating a headache for CPM in a party village. Though the official faction tried its level best to snuff it out, the workers continued the stir. CPM Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan himself declared at a meeting there that the party was for the highway built through the fields. Meanwhile, CPM Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan denied allegations that it was CPM workers who set ablaze the shed of the agitators. He told DC that the agitators were alienated from public due to recurring protests against the project. It may be members of the public who set the shed afire,” he said.
