Protest against STP project intensifies

People’s action committee to launch massive campaign today

Even as there is a difference of opinion regarding the proposed spot for the Kozhikode Corporation’s sewage treatment plant at Kothi, the Janakeeya Prathirodha Samithi is getting ready to launch a massive campaign against the project on Sunday, claiming that the project would violate Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.

It has been half a decade since the Kozhikode Corporation announced the proposal to construct an STP at Kothi, along with Avikkal Thodu, where public protest has escalated recently. However, the Corporation’s attempt to measure a strip of land along the Pallikandy-Azheekal Road and to cut down mangroves, supposedly for the STP project, created a public uproar and confusion regarding the actual site of the STP.

“Kothi is one and half kilometres away from the Pallikandy-Azheekal road, which is on the banks of the Kallai river. They will have to fill a portion of the river to build the STP here. How is that possible when the site is specified as Kothi in the detailed project report [DPR],” asked action committee chairman Faisal Pallikkandy.