Kerala, June 23, 2013: Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios, Metropolitan of the Thiruvananthapuram diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Church, opened a protest of the people demanding to shut down illegal quarries in Kerala.

The Environment Protection Solidarity Council (EPSC), which organized the prtest, wanted the State government to take effective steps to close down all illegal granite quarries and crusher units functioning in Kalanjoor panchayat without any further delay.

The solidarity council, in association with the People’s Acton Council (PAC) at Kalanjoor, staged a dharna in front of the Mini Civil Station here on Saturday, protesting against the recent police action against the PAC workers who had staged a non-violent agitation on June 15 against the move to sanction more granite quarries by the Kalanjoor grama panchayat.

Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios said popular agitation played a key role in environment protection and arresting the protesters for staging a non-violent agitation could never be justified.

The existence of natural streams mainly depended on the existence of hills from where they originated. Protection of hills and wetlands was, therefore, a prime responsibility of the society and the human world as a whole, he said.