A police vehicle was torched and government offices targeted in upland areas of Kozhikode district as violence today marred protests by local resistance groups against the Centre's decision to implement key suggestions of the Kasturiangan committee on Western Ghats conservation.
Ruling Congress-led UDF and the opposition LDF voiced conern over the 'unilateral' decision to implement the salient recommendations of the panel even as the Centre clarified that the direction it issued was not final.
A mob set ablaze a police jeep at Thamarassery and the police fired two rounds in the air after lathicharge at nearby Ativaram as protesters stoned vehicles and forest department offices.
The mob also attacked the vehicles of some Malayalam TV channels and damaged their cameras, channel sources said.
According to police, tension prevailed in the area and additional forces have been rushed to bring the situation under control.
'Karshaka Samrakshna Samiti', which had been agitating over the issue with the support of political parties and the Church establishment, distanced itself from the violent incidents saying they could be the handiwork of miscreants who sneaked in to vitiate the atmosphere.
While sharing the anxieties of the people, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Union Minister for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan had informed the state that the direction issued by the ministry was not final and still there was scope for remedy.
The Ministry had directed six states, including Kerala, to ban environmentally-damaging activities like mining, quarrying, construction of thermal plants and big building complexes in the ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats.
The protesters maintain a major segment of the people living on the slopes of the Western Ghats by farming small pieces of lands would be displaced if the report of the panel headed by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan was implemented.
The report had identified 123 villages in 11 districts around as having sensitive areas linked to the Western Ghats.
Apart from the opposition LDF, parties like Kerala Congress (M), a key partner in ruling Congress-led UDF, came out openly against the Centre's decision and said the party would join the stir even if it was spearheaded by the LDF.
