Thursday, March 25, 2004
Payyanur: The Society for Environmental Education in Kerala (SEEK) has urged the district authorities to take urgent steps to check ongoing reclamation of midland laterite hills in the district.
In a representation to the District Collector, K.S. Srinivas, the SEEK Director, T.P. Padmanabhan, said that the people living in Echilamvayal, Payyannur were facing the problem of water scarcity as water table in the area was declining. The depletion of water table in the area was suspected to have been caused by the massive reclamation of the laterite hills in the area diggers, he said.
K.V. Bhaskaran, a local environmental activist, had been brutally attacked on Tuesday by a group of workers engaged in the reclamation work when the former tried to stop the workers, the representation said. Most of the diggers and tipper lorries in the district were unauthorised, he said.
