ALAPPUZHA: The police have registered cases against over 500 local residents for obstructing the dredging and transportation of mineral sand by the Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) from the Thottapally harbour the other day. The local people under the leadership of Akhila Kerala Dheevara Sabha have been opposing the dredging alleging environmental damage and destruction of their houses due to sea erosion.
The IREL, which had suspended the dredging in July, resumed it the other day on the basis of a High Court order, but the locals obstructed it leading to a scuffle with a contingent of 200 policemen deployed at the spot. Mr E.M. Shajahan, DySP, Alappuzha, said that the cases were registered against 20 local leaders and 500 unidentified local residents. A chargesheet was submitted at Ambalappuzha Judicial First Class Magistrate court. Mr Rahmath Hamid, president, Purakkad panchayat, said the panchayat council had taken a unanimous decision against the dredging.
“Currently, the dredging is being carried out by the IERL without seeking any permission from the panchayat against which we will file a case,” he said. A meeting to settle the issue convened by Ms J. Mercykutty Amma, Minister for Fisheries and Harbour Engineering, earlier this month had failed. The representatives of local residents and fishermen community rejected the government’s plan for the second phase of harbour development and rehabilitation project for those who lost their houses as a result of sea erosion.
