Kerala - Kasargode   

Anti-Endosulfan panel conventions from March 28

KASARAGOD: The Anti-Endosulfan Campaign Committee here is hosting conventions in parts of the country from March 28 seeking an active government role in ensuring a comprehensive rehabilitation package for families of suspected victims of Endosulfan spraying in the district and imposing a ban on the pesticide.

The first meeting will be held in Bhubaneswar on March 28, followed by Bangalore on March 30, Mumbai on April 3 and New Delhi on April 6, committee chairman Narayanan Periya said on Tuesday.

The conferences assume significance in the backdrop of the meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee of the Stockholm convention scheduled next month to force the authorities to impose a blanket ban on the use of Endosulfan.

While more than 500 people living close to the cashew estates of Plantation Corporation of Kerala Ltd. in 11 panchayats in the district have died, according to official sources, hundreds of others are leading a life of misery owing to a host of health problems. As part of the ongoing agitation to enforce a complete ban on Endosulfan in the country, the committee will hold a national convention here on April 17 in which Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and environmentalist and social activists Medha Patkar and Vandana Shiva are expected to take part.

P. Karunakaran, MP; Socialist Janata (Democratic) leader M.P. Veerendrakumar and Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran were also scheduled to attend the meet, Mr. Periya said.  

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Anti-Endosulfan panel conventions from March 28

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