Aranmula: Stand taken by KGS is contempt of court,says Kummanam

via HK published on April 11, 2015

Thiruvananthapuram: Convenor of Aranmula Pathrukagrama has categorically stated that the statement made by KGS Group about Aranmula Airport not posing any environmental threat is strictly aimed to contempt of court. In fact it is highly deplorable that the airport company is now denouncing the directive issued by Green Tribunal and Supreme Court, which called for banning even a slight alteration to the specified landscape, owing to the ecological hazards the airport construction would cause, he said.

Exposing the devious schemes and international conspiracy designs underlying the KGS fraud of reinforcing their stand of Central Kerala requiring an airport and the need for the same in Aranmula itself, Kummanam said that the people of Aranmula have been questioning the same and have been seeking an answer to the very issue. “KGS Group is hell bent on disowning the SC judgment and ensuring destruction of Aranmula, instead of conducting various studies and discovering other places that are congenial for the airport project. There is an international conspiracy behind this, which evidently has evil designs. That is behind the working of creating a reiterated belief amongst people that there is the need for an airport in Central Travancore and that Aranmula is the land for the same,” he said.

Pointing out that Union Aviation Ministry has only detailed the High Court affidavit of December 2014 seeking details of the scenario leading to granting of permission by Steering Committee on 7 August 2012, Kummanam said that the agencies are no using this reference for tricking the people into believing that Central ministry has granted permission for construction of the airport. “In fact, the present ministry has the duty to withdraw permission granted by the previous one. Therefore it is essential to inform the judiciary regarding permission granted to withdraw the affidavit and annul the permission granted.”

Highlighting that Central Aviation Ministry had, two weeks ago, categorically denied permission for the airport project, Kummanam said that “Chairman of Airport Authority of India had declared the matter a closed chapter.”

“However KGS Group is resorting to malicious propaganda of having received grant from Central government by displaying the affidavit submitted in December 2014 and stating as trivial, the final statements proclaimed by sources of authority. They are also resorting to spreading of fraudulent facts like the Aranmula temple being a kilometer away from the place earmarked for the project. In fact the temple is just 100 mt away from the spot. Temple roads have also been marked as part of the project and declared part of the industrial project,” said Kummanam Rajashekharan.

Elucidating the ancestry of Sree Parthasarathy Temple in Aramula, he said that “the temple is over 1800 years old and has to be protected as an erstwhile monument of cultural significance. Even the Central Archaeological Laws have issued prohibitory orders against having an airport within 10 km of its vicinity. The High Court had also put an end to the case, following the Supreme Court directive quashing Airport Authority of India’s suggestion of reducing the height of the sacred Kodimaram to 5 mt.”

“The KGS Group should in fact go in for a further appeal against the HC directive if they feel that the airport should be constructed at the specified spot, maintaining a distance of one kilometer from the temple. It is proscriptive act to go against the verdict issued by the Court, after having lost all legal battles,” said Kummanam.

Reiterating that any stand taken congenial towards airport construction will be met with stringent opposition, Kummanam said that KGS had, hitherto procured sanctions with the aid of falsified documents and forged signatures. “CAG, Vigilance and Revenue Departments, various Courts etc are administrative bodies that have pronounced their verdict against KGS Group,” he said, issuing a plea to the state government to initiate proceedings under criminal and civil sections against the company.