KOZHIKODE: A non-residential shop building in Alinthara Angadi, near Mukkam, created chaos as residents protested and a media team was blocked and attacked by suspected helpers at its construction site. The journalists filed a complaint with the district police chief on Sunday after the incident. The issues started after the owners of a building filed a complaint at the High Court that four members of the action committee, P.T. Sasi, T.K. Umesh, T.K. Subhash and T. Subhash that they were illegally obstructing the construction.
The Special Branch had last year submitted a reported to the district collector saying the area was under the threat of religious disturbances due to the alleged plans to convert the land of an individual into a Khabarsthan. The landowner then dismissed the allegations saying only his father was buried there and there were no plans to turn it into a burial ground. The religious classes, along with other courses in the institutions owned by the same person, raised suspicion among residents when the new building construction started. However, the action committee said the petition submitted to the court was to silence protesters, who objected to the construction.
“The 29,993 sq ft building is to come up in an area identified as a wetland in the data bank. The Mukkom panchayat gave the building permit in 2013, but no construction took place, and in 2016, they renewed it. However, the construction started in March only,” said Mr Sasi. On Sunday, the media team reached the spot following allegations of a religious conversion centre coming up there. Earlier, the Special Branch had reported about the protests by the Hindutva forces against it, which could trigger religious disturbances.
