KOZHIKODE: Alarmed by the grave ecological damage caused by the mindless quarrying on the land of the two churches at Pushpagiri and Chundathumpoyil, believers of the parishes and members of the Catholic Laymen’s Association (CLA) have decided to intensify the campaign against a section of priests who have ‘misused’ the wealth of the church for the benefit of quarry mafia elements.
“Our roads have been destroyed, paddy land dug up and water resources have been polluted”, say local people. Moreover, the believers also alleged that despite the repeated protests from parish members regarding the environmental disaster caused by unchecked sand processing at the church premises and massive digging of paddy land for sand processing from paddy soil, the pleas had fallen on deaf ears.
It is to be recalled that this newspaper in a report (Page 1, Oct 8) exposed the fact that the Thamarassery diocese is running two quarries in the name of parish vicars for the last several years.
The Little Flower Church, Pushpagiri was abandoned and the consecrated shrine at the entrance was pulled down to facilitate quarrying.
CLA general secretary MM George, a member of the Pushpagiri parish told Deccan Chronicle that the administrative body of the church never discussed handing over church land to quarry owners.
“I learned the bitter truth only from media reports and I feel as a member of the parish I have the right to know about the handing over of properties for any other purposes”, he added.
Mr George also said that though there was opposition from believers, church authorities suppressed the voices of dissent.
Meanwhile, at Chundathumpoyil an action council has been formed by local people including believers against the sand processing unit on church land.
VV Jose, a believer told Deccan Chronicle that those who leased out the quarry from the church had slapped fake cases against them and even threatened them with dire consequences if they continued the agitation and campaign against sand mining and processing unit on church land.
“We even approached Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil but of no use”, said Somy Pulakkudiyil. When asked why the majority of believers had kept mum, Mr Somy said that the quarry owners paid a hefty sum to the church every month, and therefore the parish members were not needed to pay any monthly fee for the expenses of the parish.
“We have submitted a series of complaints to various bodies including the Revenue Divisional Officer and at various levels in the police department against the quarrying. The battle for our right for a peaceful life will be on”, Somy added.
