By IANS,
New Delhi: Victims of pesticide sprayed in cashewnut plantations in Kerala’s Kasaragod district Thursday met Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi here to inform him of the miserable lives that more than 3,000 people lead, and urged him to take measures for a nationwide ban on the pesticide and rehabilitation of the victims.
K.K. Basheer, coordinator of the Solidarity Endosulphan Rehabilitation Project, who accompanied the victims – three of who were children – told IANS: “The aim of our visit was the urge the government to put a nationwide ban on endosulphan and implement it strictly.
“In Kerala, despite it being banned since 2005, endosulphan is still being aerially sprayed. This has led to contamination of the soil and water in the stream, resulting in diseases like skin cancer and even genetic defects in children,” he said.
“Endosulphan is banned in more than 60 countries in the world, then why not in India,” Basheer asked.
Talking about their meeting with Gandhi, Basheer said: “Rahul Gandhi listened to what we had to say about the aerial spraying of endosulpan and said that he will take up the matter after he goes through the report in detail”.
The delegation also met the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take up the matter.
The NHRC had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports on the issue Nov 18 and issued notice to the secretary of the ministry of environment and ministry of agriculture, as well as the chief secretary of Kerala, on the matter and asked for their response within four weeks time.