Sudheeran to open meet against airport

Senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran will inaugurate a public meeting at Aranmula Iykara junction on January 21 afternoon against the proposed private international airport project at Aranmula.

In a statement here on Wednesday, P. Induchoodan, convener, Palliyoda Pallivilakku Samrakshana Samithi (PPSS), said Mr. Sudheeran along with various prominent Congress leaders in the district would visit the paddy fields of Aranmula, Kurunthar, and Mallappuzhasserry that had been identified as the site for the proposed airport project.

Wetland conversion

Mr. Induchoodan said the Samithi was organising the meeting as part of its campaign against conversion of the environmentally fragile areas of paddy land and wetland at Aranmula and surrounding villages in the name of the private airport project.

Former State Planning Board member and AICC member Peelipose Thomas and former district panchayat president K.K.Royson will address the meeting.

Meanwhile, a group of PPSS activists led by Mr. Induchoodan visited the families of the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU) and the Kerala Karshaka Sanghom who were staying in make-shift sheds at the Aranmula puncha, protesting against the illegal land conversion and demanding distribution of the excess land among them.

The KSKTU-Karshaka Sanghom activists accorded a rousing reception to the Samithi activists at the agitation venue.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/sudheeran-to-open-meet-against-airport/article4318576.ece