A dawn-to-dusk hartal over the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Area notification shut shops, commercial establishments and educational institutions across seven villages in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district on Saturday, while private buses stayed off the roads and additional police personnel were deployed.
The protest, observed from 6 am to 6 pm, covered Chittar, Perunad, Vadasserikkara, Aruvappulam, Kollamula, Thannithode and Seethathode. Police said commercial activity and educational institutions remained closed in the affected areas. The CPI(M) also organised protest rallies in the villages.
The party said the hartal was restricted to the seven villages affected by the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Area notification and rejected claims that the shutdown would cover the entire district. In a Facebook post on Friday, CPI(M) Pathanamthitta district secretary Raju Abraham said campaign marches led by party leaders had been held through the affected villages for more than a month before the protest.
The dispute centres on concerns among residents, particularly farmers living near forest areas, about the possible consequences of bringing their land within eco-sensitive zones. The proposed notification has raised fears of restrictions on construction if private land and human settlements are included in the designated areas.
Abraham said the CPI(M) was demanding that human settlements be excluded from the proposed eco-sensitive zones. He also alleged that restrictions imposed by the Forest Department could lead to an increase in wild animal populations and cause the affected areas to become dense forest over the next 10 to 15 years. These claims were made as part of the party’s campaign for the exclusion of settlements.
The CPI(M) district secretary also alleged that the notification had been introduced by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh when he was Union environment minister in the Manmohan Singh government. The report did not provide details of the notification’s current approval status, the precise boundaries proposed for the seven villages or any government response to the hartal’s demands.
Private buses remained off the roads during the shutdown, affecting mobility within the villages, while additional police personnel were deployed to prevent untoward incidents. The hartal ended at 6 pm, with the immediate implementation process and the government’s position on the demand for excluding human settlements remaining the next key developments to monitor.
