Buffer zone report: Kerala farmers’ collective calls for intensified agitation

Samithi leaders say government should withdraw aerial survey report; Thamarassery Bishop alleges suspicious motives behind release of document

The Kerala Karshaka Athijeevana Samyuktha Samithi, a collective of about 60 farmers’ organisations in the State, has called for the continuation of an intensified protest until the newly published aerial survey result on buffer zone is withdrawn. Hundreds of upland farmers expressed solidarity with the Samithi’s demand at a mass protest convention organised at Koorachundu on Monday.

Thamarassery Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil, who opened the protest, alleged that there were suspicious motives behind the release of the latest report. He said the farmers would resist its implementation at any cost.

“We will not surrender before this government. Our farmers are those who fought against deadly diseases for survival. They don’t fear even bloodshed for winning their rights,” said Bishop Inchananiyil. He said no harmful law would be allowed to be implemented in the State challenging the existence of farmers.

Local rallies organised by the Samithi covering affected areas in rural Kozhikode have drawn wide public participation. In many villages, the rallies reflected the concerns of landholders around the proposed buffer zone.

The coordinators of the Samithi said no compromise would be possible if the government was not ready to withdraw the aerial survey report. They also called for the exclusion of Forest department officers from all survey works related to the fixing of buffer zones.

In support of the Samithi’s move to expand the protest, various parishes under the Thamarassery diocese have also started forming local committees to coordinate ward-level agitations. The grama panchayat authorities in the affected villages are also likely to face the heat of the intensified protest in the days to come.

Forests Minister A.K. Saseendran’s remarks that the State could not avoid the submission of the aerial survey report in the Supreme Court have also triggered widespread protest among affected farmers. They alleged that the State government was continuing to fool the ailing farmers’ community with misleading statements and reports even after it was exposed in the public.