Pathanamthitta: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) as well as the farm workers’ and peasants’ organisations attached to has launched a land struggle in Aranmula, protesting against the delay on the part of the Government in acquiring the excess land there, on Tuesday.
Launching the land struggle, Dr T.M. Thomas Issac, former Finance Minister and the party central committee member, said the party would strongly oppose any move to convert the Aranmula Puncha (paddy land) in the name of a private airport project.
Inaugurating a march, jointly launched by the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU) and the Kerala Karshaka Sanghom at Aranmula on Tuesday, Dr Issac said the previous Left Democratic Front Government had given an in-principle clearance for setting up a private airport in Aranmula, only after strictly complying with the prevailing laws of the land. Even this conditional permission should not have been made in the case of Aranmula, taking into consideration its disastrous socio-environmental implications, the former Finance Minister has said.
01/01/13 The Hindu
