Victims’ forum relaunches hunger strike after six months The laxity of the government in providing relief and rehabilitation to hapless endosulfan victims in the district is forcing them to relaunch the indefinite hunger strike after six months, senior journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar has said. He was inaugurating the relay hunger strike spearheaded by the Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani (EPJM) on the new bus station premises here on Monday. “The serious health hazards caused by the use of the spraying of the pesticide by a public sector undertaking affected the health of hundreds of people,” he said. “The government, therefore, is duty-bound to address the issues of the people. Despite announcing compensation packages to the affected families, the government hads shown little sincerity in implementing rehabilitation packages,” he said. Urging the government to take action, he said it was for the victims to sustain their struggle till their demands were met. The hunger strike, six months after the ‘fruitful’ talks the mothers of endosulfan victims had with the State government in August last year, was an effort to make the government address the very reasonable demands of the victims, he said. The 130-day hunger strike by mothers of victims was withdrawn following assurance from Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that government would look into their demands. The victims had been demanding the formation of tribunal, inclusion of all deserving members in the endosulfan victims list, upgrade of medical facilities in endosulfan-hit localities, and writing off of the loans availed for medical treatment. Munnani president T. Shobhana, convener Ambalathara Kunhikrishanan, and other activists including Ambikasudhan Mangad, A. Mohan Kumar, D. Surendranath, E. Unnikrishnan, C.M.A. Jaleel, BJP district unit general scretary Sreekanth, and CPI district secretary Govindan Pallikapil, were present.