Kozhikode: Senior LDF leader and RJD national committee member Saleem Madavoor has alleged that there was a conspiracy and an understanding between UDF leaders and the management of the controversial poultry-waste processing company Fresh Cut Organics Pvt Ltd in Thamarassery in Kozhikode. According to Saleem, the alleged secret deal helped the company obtain a stay from the Kerala High Court against the closure notice issued by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

Saleem said he would approach the Lokayukta seeking an investigation into the alleged corruption involving UDF leaders, including MLAs, as well as the circumstances surrounding the Kattippara panchayat secretary’s report that supported the company.

It was on Thursday that KSPCB issued a closure notice to the company following complaints from local residents that waste from the plant had been discharged into the river during the recent floods. However, the Kerala High Court stayed the closure order on Friday, observing that the KSPCB had issued the notice without conducting an inspection of the facility.

Saleem Madavoor alleged that the KSPCB’s closure notice contained serious loopholes that ultimately benefited the company. Saleem questioned why the government had not initiated action against the KSPCB officials who issued the order, which later came under strong criticism in the High Court.

He also alleged that the state government had failed to take action against the Kattippara grama panchayat secretary despite the secretary submitting an inspection report favourable to the company. According to Saleem, the report was prepared despite directions from MLAs to take a contrary position.

Saleem further alleged that the agitation being organised under the leadership of UDF MLAs in front of the company, ostensibly to “save face”, would do more harm than good. He claimed that slogans raised by the MLAs during the protest amounted to threats against the Kattippara panchayat secretary.

According to Saleem, such statements could ultimately benefit Fresh Cut Organics in court by enabling the company to argue that any report submitted after an inspection by the Pollution Control Board engineer or the district collector’s representative was prepared under pressure from the MLAs.

Following the submission of the report, attempts were made to portray the panchayat secretary as a person appointed during the tenure of the LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan. However, Kattippara grama panchayat secretary Shoukath Ali was a Congress organisational leader and had earlier been transferred from Meppadi for allegedly acting against the interests of the LDF government, Saleem alleged.

He further claimed that the allegation that the secretary was a Left appointee had lost credibility after photographs emerged showing him distributing sweets and celebrating the UDF’s victory along with other UDF leaders after the recent panchayat elections. The UDF had won three standing committee chairperson positions in Kattippara grama panchayat, he said.