Protest against Endosulfan report soon

A day after the Justice Ramachandran Nair Committee submitted its report on the endosulfan issue, outrage has erupted from various quarters in the state. Demanding that the government reject the report, protests will be organised in the coming days.

Activists alleged that implementation of the report will only bring more harm to the victims than delivering justice to them.  The Endosulfan Peeditha Jankeeya Munnani (EPJM), a committee of victims and anti-endosulfan protesters, will hold a protest against the report in Kasargod on Thursday. The Endosulfan Protest Action Council is also planning protests against the report.

“Forget about helping the victims. The report is an attempt to subvert all attempts to help the victims. It basically gives the victims choice to either accept whatever meager amount the tribunal pays them as compensation or to fight cases in the court at their own expense,” said Sudheer Kumar P V, joint convener of the council.  “It states the NHRM has already paid compensation to the victims, but what actually the NHRM had provided was just a temporary relief for the victims. While the committee has shown no mercy to the victims, it has, interestingly, favoured corporate manufacturers and  given a clean chit to the manufacturing companies. This is plainly unacceptable,” he said.  Sudheer said because of the report, they had lost faith in committees appointed by the government.  Thanal, an environmental organisation and an active anti-endosulfan campaigner, said they would write to the state government to reject the report.   “Instead of fixing liability for what happened, the committee has suggested collecting money from individuals to provide relief to the victims. It is absurd, it was not appointed as a charity commission on endosulfan. We will write to the government to reject this report,” said environmentalist and Thanal trustee C Jayakumar.

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