Achuthanandan scored on Endosulfan, admits KPCC

Congress in Kerala Saturday admitted there had been ''lapses'' on dealing with the Endosulfan issue on which Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan had campaigned vigorously seeking a countrywide ban on the pesticide.

With the Stockholm Convention at Geneva adopting a resolution to phase out the toxic pesticide, the KPCC executive meeting held here felt that the Left could gain political mileage out of the issue though it was Centre which "gave the nod to the decision to ban the pesticide all over the world."

The KPCC admitted it could not put up a strong defence against Achuthanandan''s campaign on the Endosulfan issue.
CPI-M-led LDF has been asking the Centre to ban Endosulfan which had allegedly caused over 400 deaths and serious health problems to 4,000 people in parts of Kasargode in north Kerala, where the pesticide was sprayed in a state-run cashew plantation. Endosulfan was banned in the state in 2005.

It had called a dawn-to-dusk hartal Friday, demanding countrywide ban on the pesticide coinciding with the final day of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Achuthanandan, who has been spearheading the campaign against Endosulfan for the last several years, hailed the Geneva outcome and had said "the pesticide lobby had to finally surrender before people’s movement."There had been "lapses" on the part of the Congress in dealing with the matter, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.

"However, India has reached a consensus with other parties concerned on the ban and a solution had been found to mitigate the sufferings of people in our state," he said.