The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in protest against the recent Supreme Court verdict on Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) was total in rural areas of the district on Monday. Shops and commercial establishments remained closed in 12 grama panchayats during the one-day protest that expressed solidarity with the farmers’ call for a thorough review of the existing order or the enactment of a new law to address concerns.
The hartal supporters, mostly comprising CPI(M) and Kerala Congress workers, also organised protest rallies in various locations expressing apprehension about the court order. They also said the fight would be intensified in such a way to protect farmers’ interest and their land.
LDF district convener Mukkam Mohamed said there was whole-hearted cooperation from all sections of farmers for the hartal irrespective of their political affiliations. “The issue is affecting all sections of farmers, and that a united protest unmindful of minor political differences alone will help in finding a lasting solution to the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, a section of farmers owing allegiance to We Farm, a prominent settler farmers’ welfare organisation in north Kerala, boycotted the hartal alleging that the LDF government was responsible for farmers’ plight. The functionaries of the organisation claimed that the government had not initiated any steps for the proper delineation of existing forest land and wildlife sanctuaries.
Joy Kannanchira, chairman of the organisation, alleged that the absence of a clear record on forest boundaries was worsening the problem, and that the government could not even initiate appropriate survey measures that could legally limit the boundary of the proposed buffer zones within the forest land. “Now, farmers are in a situation to give up their cultivated land to compensate for the government’s laxity,” he said.
Functionaries of some of the pro-United Democratic Front farmers unions also claimed that it was the faulty use of geographic coordinate system that led to the false delineation of forest boundaries. They complained that the officials who were part of the previous land surveys solely depended on Google Maps without carrying out actual land surveys.
