Protests continue at Kothi against STP, hartal in three wards today

Police personnel take away residents, including women and children, from area; 42 arrested; children injured during clash

Tension was in the air at Kothi in Kozhikode city on Thursday as protests by local residents against the proposed sewage treatment plant (STP) there continued for the second consecutive day.

There was stiff resistance to the attempts by the Kozhikode Corporation officials and workers to construct a compound wall at the location for the proposed plant. However, the police thwarted their attempts to stop the construction, and the work started around 11 a.m. Police personnel took away the residents, including women and children, from the area.

The work had begun on Wednesday after removal of an injunction order issued by the Kerala High Court against the construction. Local residents, however, were firm that they would not allow the plant to be set up in a thickly populated area and some were arrested after protests.

Activists of a local resistance committee and residents camped there from 7 a.m. on Thursday. Wooden logs were placed on the road and women were seen sitting on chairs there to block construction workers. They also burnt tyres to stop the police. As many as 42 people, including 23 women, were arrested and the roadblocks were removed from the site. This, however, led to the tension as some children were injured while the women were being taken away. By around 10 a.m. the police took control of the entire area. Around 100 police personnel led by four Assistant Commissioners of Police had camped there.

Meanwhile, Kozhikode Mayor Beena Philip said there was a political conspiracy behind the opposition against the STP. She said that women and children were being pushed to the street to stage protests, which was not fair. Ms. Philip claimed that the police had arrested only those who had staged the protests, not those sitting at home. The Mayor said that the corporation would go ahead with the project.

The local resistance committee has called for a hartal on Friday in 57,58, and 59 wards covering areas such as Kuttichira, Kundugal, Idiyangara, Mukhadar, Kuthukallu, Nainamvalappu, and Kothi.

M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, sought an all-party meeting to address the concerns of the local residents while offering the Congress party’s support to their protest. District Congress Committee president K. Praveen Kumar and Mr. Raghavan visited the area to extend their solidarity to the people. The MP said that the United Democratic Front too would be behind them. He wondered why the corporation was insisting on setting up the plant in a place with such a high population density.