Exasperated by the increasing number of wild animal attacks, plantation workers across the State staged massive protests and sit-in in front of District Forest Offices on Tuesday. “If the Forest department and plantation owners fail to protect plantation workers from wildlife attacks, large-scale protests will erupt across Kerala,” said Kerala Plantation Labour Federation State president S Jayamohan, inaugurating the protests in Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts. The protestors alleged that when CPI(M) MPs had raised the issue in Parliament demanding that the Union government grant States the authority to declare aggressive wild animals as vermin and take necessary actions, the UDF MPs failed to support this demand. “After the Indian Railways, the plantation sector employs the largest number of workers. The ASEAN agreement, globalisation policies, and the stands of the BJP and Congress governments in the Centre are the primary reasons for the current decline of the plantation sector,” said State general secretary K. K. Jayachandran.
