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Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has requested Opposition Left Democratic Front to withdraw the call for State-wide hartal on Monday over the Kasturirangan panel report.
He asked it to instead work with the government to suggest changes in the report that deals with conservation measures for the Western Ghats ecology.
SETTLER CONCERNS
The Centre notified five measures a couple of days back, triggering violence and arson by settlers in the foothills, who feared eviction from their abodes and loss of livelihood.
Most of the incidents were reported from the northern districts of Kannur, Kozhikode and Wayanad in which scores of policemen were injured and vehicles gutted.
Loss of property is assessed at Rs 2 crore in two days of protests and violence. The police have launched search for the arsonists most of whom have been identified.
The State government would convey its concerns over settlers and their livelihoods to the Centre, the Chief Minister said at the venue of his mass contact programme in Kozhikode.
NOT FINAL
Earlier, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan had clarified that only a draft of the conservation measures had been notified. It was not final.
The States could submit thier concerns and suggestions to the Union Ministry within the next four months, she said in New Delhi while reacting to the violence in Kerala.
Chandy said that apprehensions about the Kasturirangan report could be addressed through peaceful means and discussions with all stakeholders.
HARTAL PEACEFUL
Meanwhile, a hartal called by the Opposition in the high ranges of Idukki and Wayanad districts on Saturday passed off peacefully.
Private buses, taxis, and autorickshaws did not ply. Hundreds of travellers, including Sabarimala pilgrims and tourists from Karnataka, were stranded. The dawn-to-dusk hartal in Idukki too was total and peaceful.
A report from New Delhi said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had offered to look into the concerns of lakhs of small and marginal farmers settled in the Western Ghats foothills.
M.I. Shanawas, MP from Wayanad, had met Gandhi who promised that farmers in the State would not be evicted.
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