KOZHIKODE: An engineer and academician by profession and above all an activist by life, A Achuthan remains an ineluctable figure in the social clique of Kozhikode. Thanks to his outspoken, daring and unfeigned stand on environmental and social issues such as pollution, sanitation, water, transportation, energy and housing, he has become a voice to reckon with in the social arena of Kozhikode.
From Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district to Kozhikode and from a civil engineer specialised in hydraulics to an environmentalist, he has traversed the length and breadth of society, sometimes educating the masses and on other occasions, criticising the establishment. And at the age of 81, he is still continuing with his journey.
One of the earliest members of the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, Achuthan affirms without hesitation, “Left is my ideology, but I am apolitical.” He remains a blatant criticiser of the so-called wrong policies of the CPM and other Left parties. “Like Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, I too have no political affiliations. The only thing that matters to me is the issues that have social implications,” he explains.
Shedding light on his environmental activist persona, Achuthan says that it was his association with the Indian Council for Medical Research that gave him a chance to better understand environmental issues. “I was in the Public Works Department(PWD) when I became a fellow doing research on ‘Total Sanitation’ at the Indian Council for Medical Research. In those days, my colleagues used to call me ‘toilet engineer,’ which I took as an inspiration to further associate myself with social and environmental issues,” he recollects.
However, it was the Silent Valley Movement of the 1970s that brought him to the limelight of environmental activism. At that time, as a member of the Task Forces on Energy under the State Planning Board, he got a chance to see the report that endorsed the hydro-electric power project in the Silent Valley. “It was a time when the government was making all efforts to clear the hydro-electric project. All the 141 MLAs in the state Assembly had weighed their support behind the government decision. But my position as a government employee - a faculty at the Regional Engineering College(REC) in Kozhikode and as a member of the Task Force on Energy did not stop me from opposing the destruction of the natural environment in the Silent Valley. I joined the protests along with M K Prasad, M P Parameswaran, V K Damodaran, Syama Sundaran Nair, and above all the Sasthra Sahithya Parishad,” says Achuthan.
Thereafter, it was an unceasing journey for him. He became a powerful presence in the environemental agitations in Plachimada, Jeerakapara, Madayipara, and against Mavoor Gwalior Rayons. He was also in the forefront in the protests against the Kozhikode Corporation on the Njeliyanparamba waste treatment plant issue and for demanding the implementation of the Gadgil Committee report on Western Ghats. As the chairman of the State Enquiry Commission, he submitting a report on the effects of Endosulfan in the PCK plantations of Kasargod, which recommended banning the use of the chemical.
A postgraduate in MS (civil engineering) from University of Wisconsin in USA and a PhD holder from IIT Madras, his professional career was a back-and-forth game, starting as a demonstrator at the Government Engineering College in Thiruvananthapuram in 1954 to assistant engineer in the PWD, before settling as an academician. He has served as a faculty member in the Government Engineering Colleges in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur and in the Regional Engineering College(REC), Kozhikode. He has also held the position of the Dean of Students Welfare, University of Calicut, among a number of other academic positions in various institutions.
While talking about his academic career, he pinpoints the Rajan case, which he says, had left him in a state of shock. “Rajan was a student of mine at the REC. Police had taken him into custody alleging that he was among those who attacked the Kayanna police station. However, later it was known that the police station was attacked by local people and Rajan was innocent. But by that time it was too late. Several years later, one of the police officers told me that he had followed me for around six months after Rajan went missing. The whole incident remains an appalling one in my entire life,” he says.
Achuthan, who has been in Kozhikode since 1962, says he is happy to live here as he feels that the people have a more liberal mindset.