The Left Democratic Front (LDF) Wayanad district committee has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal on June 12 in the district in protest against a Supreme Court order prescribing one km around protected forests as ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ).
District convener C.K. Saseendran said in a release that the Supreme Court directive would adversely affect thousands of families in the district, especially those living on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
A quick intervention of the Union government was the need of the hour as forests were included on the concurrent list, Mr.Saseendran said.
The front also raised demands such as exemption for human habitations on the forest fringes from the ESZ, legislation against the apex court directive, and forest boundary in human settlements to be fixed as ESZ.
Mr. Saseendran said milk supply, newspaper distribution, and essential services would be exempted from the hartal.
