Left Democratic Front (LDF) Kerala has called for a state-wide Hartal on Friday to protest the Congress Led central government’s stand not to clamp a ban on pesticide endosulphan, which is the reason for many deaths in the state.
LDF convenor Comrade Vaikom Viswan announced the front decision to call the shutdown to protest the Indian government’s stand on endosulphan at the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which began in Geneva Monday. India has decided it would not support a call for a ban on the pesticide during the April 25-29 convention.
‘The conference ends Friday and hence we decided to express our protest against the centre’s stand not to ask for a ban at the ongoing conference. It appears the centre is more concerned about the ‘health’ of multinational companies and not the real health of people of this country,’ said Viswan. ‘We request the people to cooperate with the shutdown. All essential services would be allowed to function and so would two-wheelers,’ he added. Comrade V.S. Achuthanandan staged a seven-hour fast to demand a nation-wide ban on endosulphan on Monday.
About 500 deaths since 1995 in 11 villages have been officially acknowledged as related to the spraying of endosulfan, whose use on the estates of Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in Kasargode district began in the early 1970s and continued till 2001. Unofficial estimates put the deaths since the late 1970s to around 4,000.
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