Image credit : manoramaonline.com

Kochi: In a boost to environmentalists opposing filling of wetland for building the Kannur bypass, the Centre has suspended the 3D notification issued recently.

Environmentalists led by Suresh Keezhatoor of ‘Vayalkiligal’ have been invited for talks with the Centre in Delhi next week.

Former Kerala BJP president Kummanam Rajashekharan and Suresh Keezhatoor had appealed to the Government to skip the existing plan to lay the highway through paddy fields in Keezhatoor if an alternative option was available.

The protest was originally started by CPM when it was in the Opposition. Suresh Keezhatoor was actively involved in the protests. After LDF came to power, it changed stand and went ahead with the plan to lay the road through the wetland. However, Suresh restarted the agitation under the title ‘Vayalkiligal’ (farm birds) in 2017 against reclaiming paddy fields for the Kannur bypass project.