Protest against STP project intensifies
The Hindu
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.
A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.