ALAPPUZHA: The protest against the indiscriminate soil extraction by destroying mountains in Palamel panchayat near Mavelikkara ended in a clash between the residents and police on Friday. Many people sustained injuries and over 60 people were taken into police custody for blocking lorries carrying soil on Kayamkulam-Punalur road.
Mavelikkara MLA M S Arunkumar also joined the agitation by staging a sit-in dharna on the road along with the local people. The region has been on the edge for the past few days as soil was being extracted on a large scale from various places of the panchayat in the name of the six-laning of National Highway 66.
Though the company that secured the contract for supplying soil for the road development had police protection, the local people started agitation. On Friday early morning, people gathered as the sand excavation started and blocked the lorries of the company. Following this, the police arrested around 17 people and shifted them to the station. However, more people arrived at the spot and staged a road blockade. Meanwhile, more police officers reached the site and they forcefully tried to remove people from the road, leading to the clash. The MLA also joined the agitation later.
Arunkumar said use of force by police to suppress the residents is not right. “The contracting company indiscriminately dug soil in many areas of the Palamel panchayat. It will destroy the ecology of the area,” the MLA said. The company aimed to dig around 200 acres of land for soil to fill the marshy lands on the NH worksite.
The mining was started with the state government and the High Court’s approval. However, the agitation committee filed an appeal to the division bench of the HC against the order of the single bench. The division bench then postponed the case without a hearing to December 22. In the wake of the postponement, the sand mining contractor reached the site again to extract soil.