Vadaseri, April 9: While the public protest against setting up of a distillery unit by T. R. Baalu’s family turned violent on Friday, the 3,000-odd villagers of Vadaseri, a predominantly agricultural village in which a vast majority belong to the devar community like Mr. Baalu, have been an aggrieved lot for over a decade now.
“Kings India Chemicals Corporation was set up here in the 90s with the blessings of the entire village. We came forward and handed over the land thinking the factory would be a boon for us. But our hopes soured within a couple of years,” said advocate Manikandan, who is heading the protests this time.
While all the villagers were made shareholders of the project, none of them received any benefits as the company declared losses.
Mr Kumar, who drives an autorickshaw at Vadaseri, said, “Moreover, the stench that emanated from the unit was unbearable. Though it polluted our village, we stuck to it.”
The company management then claimed that their primary raw material, alcohol, had to be brought from Gujarat and the transportation costs led to the losses. After a lull, Kings Chemicals came up with a proposal to set up a distillery to produce its own alcohol as raw material for its operating unit.
To run a distillery, several lakh litres of water would be needed every day and the management even dug several borewells to meet their daily need for water.
Villagers complained, “We simply cannot allow that since our village does not have any external water source. We depend only on our groundwater for irrigation. If that too gets sucked away by the distillery wells, then our lands will be parched.”
They alleged that the local panchayat hoodwinked them and gave a no-objection certificate to Kings Chemicals for setting up the factory in their village without consulting the locals. “We had to stage many protests to force the village panchayat to revoke the NOC. This public hearing is an outcome of that effort and we will fight to the end to save our village,” village elders who were gathered at the
venue said.
Speaking to reporters, T. R. B. Rajkumar, Kings’ chairman and son of Mr Baalu, said his firm had not flouted any environmental guidelines. “We have met all the requirements and we are open to a public debate anytime,” he said.
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Villagers put up spirited fight against Baalu’s unit
Vadaseri, April 9: At least five persons were badly injured and several vehicles, including a car belonging to the local RDO, were damaged after violence broke outside a chemical factory owned by the family of former union minister and DMK MP, T.R. Baalu, here on Friday afternoon.
Thousands of residents from Vadaseri village had gathered outside the Kings India Chemicals Corporation to voice their protest against the Baalu family setting up a distillery unit nearby. The people had collected for a public hearing organised by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board when the violence broke out.
While the situation had remained tense since morning after the villagers got information that Mr Baalu had brought several supporters to ‘infiltrate’ the public hearing, the situation went out of control when two villagers were attacked with knives and rods allegedly by the henchmen of the ex-minister, who were housed at Thalikottai, his native village close to the factory site.
Police responded with a lathi-charge, in which dozens of villagers were injured and, in turn, the public hurled stones at the police. The rioters were brought under control after district revenue officer M. Karunakaran and Thanjavur SP K. A. Senthil Velan intervened and pacified the people.
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“Kings India Chemicals Corporation was set up here in the 90s with the blessings of the entire village. We came forward and handed over the land thinking the factory would be a boon for us. But our hopes soured within a couple of years,” said advocate Manikandan, who is heading the protests this time.
While all the villagers were made shareholders of the project, none of them received any benefits as the company declared losses.
Mr Kumar, who drives an autorickshaw at Vadaseri, said, “Moreover, the stench that emanated from the unit was unbearable. Though it polluted our village, we stuck to it.”
The company management then claimed that their primary raw material, alcohol, had to be brought from Gujarat and the transportation costs led to the losses. After a lull, Kings Chemicals came up with a proposal to set up a distillery to produce its own alcohol as raw material for its operating unit.
To run a distillery, several lakh litres of water would be needed every day and the management even dug several borewells to meet their daily need for water.
Villagers complained, “We simply cannot allow that since our village does not have any external water source. We depend only on our groundwater for irrigation. If that too gets sucked away by the distillery wells, then our lands will be parched.”
They alleged that the local panchayat hoodwinked them and gave a no-objection certificate to Kings Chemicals for setting up the factory in their village without consulting the locals. “We had to stage many protests to force the village panchayat to revoke the NOC. This public hearing is an outcome of that effort and we will fight to the end to save our village,” village elders who were gathered at the
venue said.
Speaking to reporters, T. R. B. Rajkumar, Kings’ chairman and son of Mr Baalu, said his firm had not flouted any environmental guidelines. “We have met all the requirements and we are open to a public debate anytime,” he said.
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Villagers put up spirited fight against Baalu’s unit
Vadaseri, April 9: At least five persons were badly injured and several vehicles, including a car belonging to the local RDO, were damaged after violence broke outside a chemical factory owned by the family of former union minister and DMK MP, T.R. Baalu, here on Friday afternoon.
Thousands of residents from Vadaseri village had gathered outside the Kings India Chemicals Corporation to voice their protest against the Baalu family setting up a distillery unit nearby. The people had collected for a public hearing organised by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board when the violence broke out.
While the situation had remained tense since morning after the villagers got information that Mr Baalu had brought several supporters to ‘infiltrate’ the public hearing, the situation went out of control when two villagers were attacked with knives and rods allegedly by the henchmen of the ex-minister, who were housed at Thalikottai, his native village close to the factory site.
Police responded with a lathi-charge, in which dozens of villagers were injured and, in turn, the public hurled stones at the police. The rioters were brought under control after district revenue officer M. Karunakaran and Thanjavur SP K. A. Senthil Velan intervened and pacified the people.
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TN govt, cannot hide things anymore!!! why such a big issue has not been dicussed by the tn govt yet... no statements came out from none of ruling party both central & state...!! serious issue! need to be looked upon.... " AGRICULTURE IS THE BACKBONE OF DEVELOPING INDIA " NEED TO APPLAUSE SARAVANAN FOR HIS EFFORT IN BRINGING THE NEWS ON A BLOG!!
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