KOCHI: While the lives of commoners came to a halt following the 48-hour national strike, there are a few pockets in Ernakulam district that stood resilient against the shutdown. In Pulluvazhy, a small village near Perumbavoor, a majority of the people don’t even remember the last time when a strike or hartal led to the complete closure of shops or establishments in their area. Life was also normal in places like Pallikkara and Peringala — both near Kizhakkambalam — and Vallom near Perumbavoor on Monday.
Joy Velanjiyil, who is a former vice-president of Rayamangalam panchayat where Pulluvazhy is located, said long time back, protestors used to come to their locality to force traders to down the shutters. “In my memory, it was around 30 years back that a complete shutdown took place in Pulluvazhy. It was a joint decision by the public that there won’t be a forced shutdown here from then on. Those who support the strike can keep their shops and factories closed but no protestor can forcibly make the shops down shutters. There are 150 shops here and around 90% of them are open today (Monday),” he told TNIE.
“People in nearby areas like Vallom have drawn inspiration from us against complete lockdown during strike and hartal days. Vallom is one of the places which have resisted a complete shutdown in recent years. Several small-scale industries function at Vallom. These industries, as well as shops, are open and functioning,” he said. Another area that stood against a complete closing down in the district is Pallikkara near Kizhakkambalam.
Following the declaration of general strike, Pallikkara Merchants Association approached the Kerala High Court which ordered police protection from the protesters. “The traders in Pallikkara are against the strike. It is the traders who incur major losses due to strikes and hartals. We are resisting the complete shutdown during hartal for the past five years.
In 2020, when we resisted the shutdown, people associated with a certain political party had attacked us. This prompted us to approach the High Court for police protection this time and the court granted our plea,” C G Babu, president of the association, said. “As the shops in other villages have downed their shutters, people came from nearby localities to our shops. We had a good business on Monday,” Babu said. Peringala, another village near Pallikkara, also did not see any disruption on Monday.