CPM to drum up support for GAIL pipeline project in Kozhikode district

Kozhikode: Alarmed by the increasing incidents of mass protests against the GAIL pipeline- laying project in Kozhikode district by alleged communal elements, the CPM district committee has started a campaign to create awareness among the public and speed up the project.

It is the need of the state to ensure unhindered flow of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the terminal, completed in 2011 at Kochi, to other parts of the state, a CPM campaign document said. The gas would reach hotels, homes and other establishments through pipes ensuring safety, it was pointed out.

Kozhikode district collector U.V. Jose also exhorted the public recently to keep off such protests preventing the progress of the project in Kodiyathur and Karassery panchayats of the district.

According to the CPM, a section of leaders and workers of the Muslim League, organizations with communal tinge like Solidarity and SDPI have begun a misleading campaign among community members. Such elements also oppose the National Highway widening projects and power projects in a bid to torpedo the progress of the state, it was pointed out.

CPM Kozhikode District secretary P Mohanan in a press release on Friday said that such organizations misled the public wherever a few persons lose land for the project. “The government is ready to give adequate compensation for those who handover land for the project”, he said, adding that those who had complaints on the process had enough time to seek justice at the higher level. Instead of ensuring compensation, these elements were conducting a campaign against projects. Even the Muslim League which supported such projects while in power, was now opposing them for political gains, he pointed out.

The CPM will launch a campaign wherever the projects were facing stiff resistance to expose the true colours of these organizations and also exposing the double standards of the Muslim league.