A group of women, mostly mothers of Endosulfan victims, staged a silent demonstration at Kasaragod in protest against the recent remarks by Union Minister K.V Thomas that the aerial spraying of the pesticide in the Cashew plantation in the Kasagod district need not have caused crippleny diseases to hundreds of people in the vicinity.
The women, accompanied by their ailing children, demonstrated in front of the Head post office, with their mouths covered in black cloths.
The agitators displayed placards which said the Minister’s remarks were a shame on the nation. They sought his intervention to ban the pesticide, whose aerial spraying on Plantation Corporation of Kerala’s (PCK) cashew estates, they say, caused undiagnosed ailments to hundreds of people living near the PCK land. Many, they allege, died after years of trauma. Do you want to raise the toll by supporting pesticide companies? One placard asked. The protest organized under the aegis of Anti-Endosulfan Campaign Committee, which had been working for affected families.
The Hyderabad-based National Institute of occupational Health Committee and an expert panel which included leading medical practitioners appointed by the state government had clearly mentioned the pesticide as the sole reason for the diseases.
Prof. John Kurakar
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Ithokke ivare poleth rashttriyyakkark oyivakkan patiilla karanam ivar kanchi kudikunnath endosulfante labathil ninnalle
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