CPI(M) calls for Idukki hartal on October 16 over land-related issues

Forest department officials removing a fencing under Devikulam forest range in Idukki. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Idukki district committee has launched an open protest against the UDF government, calling for a district-wide hartal on October 16 over land-related issues.Addressing a press conference in Thodupuzha on Thursday (October 8), CPI(M) district secretary C.V. Varghese said the party has raised various demands, including the halting the conversion of Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) areas into forest land, dropping the proposal to establish wild elephant corridors in the district, withdrawing the District Collector’s order restricting work and movement in plantation areas between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m, and revoking the directive to remove fences erected by farmers to protect plantations and farmlands from wild animal attacks.The party has also demanded to scrap plans to revive High Range Mountain Landscape (HRML) project —originally signed on May 15, 2014, by the then Oommen Chandy-led government and later shelved by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in 2016 – and publish the cadastral map of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in the district.Mr. Varghese alleged that the Forest department’s list of human-wildlife conflict hotspots included panchayats where no animal attacks had ever been reported. He warned that the CPI(M) would physically oppose and block any attempt by authorities to dismantle fences erected by farmers.He added that as a precursor to the strike, a torchlight march would be held across all local centres in the district on October 15. Published - October 08, 2026 07:28 pm IST