Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi organises torchlight protest against registration of case against priests

The Chellanam-Kochi Janakeeya Vedhi on Monday organised a torchlight protest against the registration of case against priests of the Alappuzha and Kochi dioceses who organised a hunger strike in solidarity with the residents of Chellanam panchayat facing the misery spawned by sea erosion.

However, the organisation has called off its hartal on June 30 taking into account the District Collector’s promise to take up the issue of sea erosion at the meeting with the Chief Minister scheduled for July 3.

The organisation condemned the police case against the priests who protested against the alleged apathy of the government in resolving the issue and demanded that the case be scrapped.

“The residents of Chellanam have been asking the government since March to take preventive measures against sea incursion before the onset of the monsoon. However, owing to the alleged apathy and negligence on the part of the government, many houses along the Chellanam shore have been either fully or partially damaged, leaving them unfit for habitation. The government, which failed to take timely action to prevent sea erosion, lost no time in registering the case against the protesting priests,” it said

“The forceible suppression of popular protests instead of taking favourable action on the demand to resolve sea erosion is not befitting a democratically elected government,” said V.T. Sebastian, general convener of the Vedhi.

At a meeting convened by the Collector on the direction of the Kerala High Court, it was decided that temporary barriers of geobags against marauding waves would be deployed along seven vulnerable stretches. The Collector had also assured that it would be completed at the earliest, the Vedhi said in a statement. With the next new moon that is likely to trigger intense high tide around the corner, the promised temporary solution is nowhere near completion exposing the inefficacy of the disaster mitigation measures. The Vedhi asked the government to show urgency and complete the works at the earliest.