Amidst protest from local people from various villages near Kariyapatti, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday laid foundation stone for Southern Districts Textile Processing Cluster Private Limited and New Industrial Park.
The ceremony for the industrial park planned between Thamaraikulam and Pottalkulam in Kariyapatti Taluk was done through video-conferencing.
However, over 100 people from various villages, who turned up at the Kariyapatti Taluk office to make a representation opposing the project, staged a road roko after Collector A. Sivagnanam returned to Virudhunagar without meeting them.
The villagers alleged that police had swooped down in various villages in the region early in the morning and kept people under their custody fearing that they could disrupt the video-conferencing event that was held at the Kariyapatti Union Office near the bus stand.
“We were kept under house arrest by a large posse of policemen in our village,” complained P. Senthamarai Kannan, 38, of Thamaraikulam.
“It is not a textile park but only a dyeing unit that has the history of having ruined the environment, groundwater and livelihood of people and farmers every where,” said Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam district secretary V. Murugan.
The Collector was not willing to meet the agitating villagers, he said. “Why should he not clear their doubts and tell them the truth?” he said.
Public hearing on the proposed industrial park that was held in 2016 had to be abruptly wound up after the officials could not give any satisfactory reply on the environmental impact of the dyeing units, said R. Ganesan, 55, of Karaikulam.
Alleging that the units would be drawing more 60,000 litres of water a day by sinking huge borewells at the site, he said groundwater table in the region would deplete soon. “Not only our irrigation, but also cattle heads would suffer a lot,” he added.
Mr. Senthamarai Kannan said cattle rearing was a major occupation in almost all the 10 villages in the stretch. “Even in our village, some 10 farmers are having 2,000 goats,” he added.
Citing the case of Tiruppur where dyeing units have spoilt the groundwater, Mr. Ganesan said that the villagers will be happy if any other unit other than dyeing unit is set up in their region. The effluent will ruin the Kanalneer Odai and also several tanks, the villagers said.
The villagers said that they would launch a series of protests after a detailed discussion with people of all villages. They are also planning to get a legal intervention on the issue.
However, project director of the cluster KR. Gnanasambandan claimed that the project had got no objection certificate from Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.
“We are going to take 2 lakh litres of water from a sprawling 100 acres in which all rainwater harvesting structures will come up. The water drawn will be duly recharged,” he said.
Thirty six textile dyeing and processing units will come up at a cost of ₹200 crore. “Since most of the some 100 dyeing units that were closed down in and around Madurai due to the pollution issue, we have formed a cluster with common treatment facility. It will be a zero-discharge unit. While 95% of effluent will be recycled, the remaining will be allowed to evaporate without harming the environment,” he added.
The project is getting 50% subsidy from Centre and 25% subsidy from State.
Published On : 26-08-2019
Source : The Hindu
