Image credit : Illustrative Image

Fresh case has been registered against 11 persons for allegedly attacking GAIL officials in Mukkam near Kozhikode.

The fresh filing of case comes at a time when 500 protesters are awaiting verdict on their bail pleas.

(Mukkam police had earlier filed a case against 500 identifiable persons, who had taken part in the violent protest against Kochi-Mangalapuram GAIL pipeline project. The case was filed following a complaint from GAIL authorities).

Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded the dropping of case against the protesters. Party leader Ramesh Chennithala blamed the ruling Left Front for its “hardline” posture in the matter.

Another senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran said both LDF Government and GAIL authorities were equally responsible for creating the problem.

On November 1, the protest against the land acquisition for laying the 83-km LNG pipeline under the 1,104 Kochi-Koottanaad-Coimbatore-Salem-Bengaluru-Mangaluru (KKBMPL) pipeline project (worth Rs 4,493 crore) turned violent. The protesters blocked GAIL authorities and damaged their vehicles.

(The first phase connecting Kochi port to FACT plant in Kochi has been commissioned. The second phase envisages 1,060-km line from Kochi to Thrissur- Palakkad- Coimbatore- Salem-Bengaluru and another from Palakkad through Kozhikkode till Mangaluru.)