Karur residents plan protest against proposed ethanol unit

TIRUCHY: Alleging that the ethanol manufacturing unit that a Karnataka-based company was planning to set up at Kumaramangalam would drain the water resources in the locality and discharge effluents that would ruin their cultivable lands, the people who attended the public hearing on Tuesday objected to the plan and warned of staging a series of protests till the project was dropped.

Earlier, environmentalists, farmers, and residents had opposed holding the public hearing for the project scheduled for Tuesday in Kulithalai in Karur. The public hearing was chaired by District Revenue Officer Vimalraj and Pollution Control Board Assistant Executive Engineer Tholkappiyan.

The participating public, including the environmental activists, said that the ethanol manufacturing unit is proposed on a 33-acre land located between Tiruchy and Karur amid the agricultural lands where the crops like paddy, banana, and sugarcane are being cultivated traditionally.

The residents said that the unit would require at least four lakh litre of water every day and the company would draw huge quantities of groundwater and discharge effluents into the agricultural lands, which would affect the agricultural activities in the region.

The officials were part of the plan, as they were showing a keen interest in the establishment of the unit, alleged the people, who said it was ironical that while the Karnataka government refuses to release water for irrigation in Tamil Nadu, the officials here were supporting a Karnataka-based firm to start manufacturing ethanol.

They warned the officials that they would stage a series of protests until the plan to establish the plant was withdrawn.