Source: telegraphindia.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Kerala woman has chopped off her \ntresses in symbolic protest against the state electricity board shaving \nthe crowns off several trees in her grove to erect a transmission tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former\n journalist Meena Menon, 48, had fought six years to protect her \nbiodiversity-rich, 2-acre patch of mini-tropical vegetation, Shantivanam\n (Forest of Peace), from the Kerala State Electricity Board\u2019s (KSEB) \naxes, even approaching Kerala High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the court rejected\n her plea for a realignment of the transmission lines, she says the \npower board in mid-April felled three of her trees, clearing a 6,500sqft\n patch right behind her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While her appeal remains pending in \nthe high court, power board workers lopped the crowns off three more \ntrees on Wednesday and left saying they would come back on Thursday to \nprune more treetops, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was on Wednesday that Meena \nsnipped her hair to above shoulder length to register her anger and \nsadness as a posse of policemen and neighbours watched at the property \nin North Paravur, Ernakulam, 20km from Kochi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also uploaded a video clip that is being widely circulated and has turned her into a rallying point for environmentalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis\n is the only way I can register my protest. I have fought in every legal\n way possible for a common person. At least I don\u2019t need anyone\u2019s \npermission to cut my own hair — neither from the KSEB nor the police,\u201d\n she says in the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have been waiting for the chief \nminister\u2019s reply. This tuft of hair is for you, comrade. And this one is\n for you comrade (power minister M.M.) Mani. And the last two are for \nthe KSEB and for every common man out here. It\u2019s a lesson for you in \nwhat would happen to someone who tries to protect biodiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the video protest, no one came to her grove on Thursday to chop or prune more trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\n Thursday, Meena told The Telegraph: \u201cI fought against the electricity \nboard for six years and pleaded with them to lay underground cables. But\n I could only watch as they destroyed a large patch of forest with \nprecious undergrowth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 8km long, proposed 110KV Cherai-Mannam \npower transmission line passes through a 4km stretch of residential \nareas and copses where Meena\u2019s ancestral grove is located. She is the \nonly resident to take the fight to the electricity board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It all \nbegan sometime in 2013, she says, when power board officials marched \ninto her \u201cat least 200-year-old\u201d property, home to three ancient \nshrines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey just walked in and said they were going to place a \ntower in my property. I was shocked at their brazenness; they didn\u2019t \neven seek my permission,\u201d Meena told this newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She \nimmediately approached the Ernakulam district collector, who sent a team\n of officials to explore possible ways of sparing her property. But \neventually, the alignment wasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI told the officials \nthat laying 4km of underground cable could save a lot of trees, and that\n a high-tension power line overhead would mean trouble for about 120 \nfamilies. But they wouldn\u2019t listen,\u201d Meena said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She petitioned \nthe high court in 2017, which rejected her plea in April this year. \n\u201cEven before I had got a copy of the judgment, KSEB men chopped down a \npine tree, a coconut palm and an areca nut palm. While installing \n15-metre-deep concrete piling, they didn\u2019t give a thought to what would \nhappen to my house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After she received a copy of the judgment, \nMeena says, she realised the high court had kept open certain options \nfor her, such as approaching the district collector again to reassess \nthe alignment. Wednesday\u2019s act by the electricity board — \u201ca \ncontinuation of their project to destroy this place\u201d — was the last \nstraw for Meena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Environmental activists have for years expressed \nsolidarity with Meena and joined her Shantivanam Conservation Committee.\n The Congress and the CPM, successive governments led by which have \ncontinued with the alignment that threatens Meena\u2019s grove, too have \nvoiced support for her as political parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meena is now waiting for the high court to take up her appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KSEB\n deputy chief engineer (transmission) George, who uses only one name, \nsaid the power line was key to solving the problem of low-voltage faced \nby more than two lakh people from 40,000 families. He said the project \nwas likely to be inaugurated within a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis project was \nconceived about 20 years ago. We have cut (completely felled) only three\n trees (on Meena\u2019s property) and won\u2019t be cutting any more,\u201d George told\n reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stressed that the additional district magistrate had heard Meena\u2019s plea before the line\u2019s alignment was finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\n engineers decided the alignment (which puts the tower right in the \nmiddle of Meena\u2019s property) after a technical evaluation,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n