Development

1958: The Government of Kerala, persuades the Birlas to open a factory in Mavoor, North Kerala.

The GRASIM rayon pulp factory is open for the last 38 years. Thousands of workers earn their living trading future lives for the present. The fumes wing their way to the neighborhood spreading disease and death. Effluents gurgle into the Chaliyar River poisoning everything on its way to the sea.

At a time when environmental activism was unheard of, a man leads his people to save their river and their lives from the killer factory.

The film, ‘Only An Axe Away’, narrates the history of the unique campaign to save the Silent Valley from destructive development. Silent Valley was declared a National Park 20 years ago in 1984. But the threat to Silent Valley does not cease to exist!

The Kerala State Electricity Board plans to build a dam on the fringes of the Silent Valley National Park at Pathrakadavu across River Kunthi. Nature lovers are concerned that the proposed dam will harm the pristine Ever Green Forests in the Valley.