Kerala - Kochi   

Fifty women to fast on feast day

KOCHI: Fifty women from Mulavukad Island will forgo their Onam lunch on Thiruvonam day for a social cause.

While the people will feast themselves to sumptuous Ona Sadya on Friday, the women will stage a hunger strike before Goshree Island Development Authority office at near Rajendra Maidan.

Even while protesting against the apathy of the authorities towards the development of the island, the womenfolk will wear the traditional set and mundu for the agitation marking the festival season.

A Maveli will also join the islanders in the pandal set up before the authority office, said Majid Hussein, joint convener of the action council.

Fasting on Thiruvonam day is the strongest form of agitation that one can think of, as there exists the notion that no one should go hungry at least on the Onam day when ‘King Mahabali’ is believed to visit the State.

While giving up Onam meal in protest, the people will uphold the spirit of the festival season.

Hence, the agitation in traditional costumes, explained an activist.

The people of the island are on an agitation course for more than a month demanding steps for speeding up the road project and disbursement of compensation for the landowners who have surrendered their holdings for the project.

The demand of the islanders is that the district collector should announce the date for an adalat for settling the compensation files of the landowners. They have also demanded that the general council of the authority should be convened to address the issue of awarding compensation.

After Onam, the agitation would be stepped up and Ernakulam MLA, K.V. Thomas, has agreed to join the islanders at the satyagraha pandal, he said. The children from the island will take out a protest by pulling some children on palm sheaths along the High Court-Rajendra Maidan route, highlighting the plight of the islanders, he said.

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