Senior Congress leader V. M. Sudheeran has called for a pesticide management policy for the safety of people and environment from the hazardous pesticides. He was addressing a workshop organised by the Thrissur District Panchayat on Friday as part of its mission to turn Thrissur an eco-friendly district. He said stringent laws are needed to control the production of hazardous pesticides. The prime concern of the country should be the safety of the people not the welfare of the pesticide manufacturing companies, he said. “A ban on endosulfan will not solve the problem. Sixty seven harmful pesticides are in use in the country. The soft poisoning through the contaminated vegetables and grains is causing many serious illnesses,” he said. The district panchayat is planning to implement the environmental-friendly farming project at Rs. 7 crore in association with three-tier panchayati raj institutions. In the initial phase, training programmes would be conducted at the grama panchayat-level on eco-friendly farming, District Panchayat President K. V. Dasan, who presided over the function, said. Standing Committee Chairman (Welfare) of the district panchayat Anil Akkara, vice president T. Nirmala and others participated.