A 12-hour Idukki hartal called by the CPI(M) over Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) restrictions and concerns affecting farmers disrupted normal life in Kerala’s high-range district on Friday, with schools closed, commercial establishments shut and the day’s Higher Secondary Improvement Examinations cancelled.
The hartal began at 6 am, police said. The CPI(M) district committee said the protest was aimed at seeking greater clarity in the cadastral map published on the basis of recommendations submitted by the previous UDF government regarding ESA areas. The party also raised objections to proposed or reported changes involving forest land, plantations, farmland and wildlife conservation measures.
Among its demands, the CPI(M) has called for the proposed declaration of the Cardamom Hill Reserve area as forest land to be abandoned. It has also sought the withdrawal of orders converting plantations and farmland into wildlife sanctuaries, the scrapping of plans to create elephant corridors and an end to what it described as a covert move to revive the High Range Mountain Landscape project.
CPI(M) Idukki district secretary C V Varghese appealed for public cooperation in a video message posted on Facebook. He said milk supplies and newspaper distribution would continue during the hartal. Vehicles carrying people for weddings and cremation services would be exempted, while tourists travelling from other districts to destinations in Idukki would not be obstructed. Sports meets being held in the district would also be exempted, he said.
The shutdown affected education and public transport. Most schools, colleges and other educational institutions had already announced that they would remain closed, according to police. The Directorate of Higher Secondary Education cancelled the Higher Secondary Improvement Examinations scheduled in Idukki on Friday, although the examinations were being held elsewhere in Kerala. Officials said the district’s examinations would be conducted on another day.
Commercial establishments remained closed and private buses stayed off the roads. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation operated a limited number of services, police said. Police personnel were deployed at major centres across the district to prevent violence, while the CPI(M) said it expected the hartal to proceed peacefully with cooperation from different sections of the public.
The dispute reflects the continuing tension in Idukki between environmental regulation, conservation measures and the needs of farming and plantation communities. The district contains large areas of forest and has faced persistent disagreements over ESA restrictions, human-wildlife conflict and agriculture. The immediate shutdown is centred on the cadastral map and land-use decisions, while the next examination date for affected students remains the official follow-up issue announced by authorities.
