Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Jan 10: The locals of Jokatte, Kalavaru and Tokur villages organized a symbolic broom march in the city against the copper sulfate unit at MRPL on Thursday, January 10.

Addressing to gathering Muneer Katipalla, Convenor, Nagarikara Horata Samithi said “After many years of fight, government suggested some solutions and guidelines in favour of locals . But the officials of MRPL cheated the locals by neglecting the guidelines issued by government. The district administration knows this very well and is still supporting MRPL blindly."

"The company neglected all rules which are made by the environmental department. It did not show any intrest to construct the green zone and illegally started petcoke and Sulphar units in residential areas. Because of this, Jokatte, Kalavaru, and Tokur villages are covered with dust and the locals are facing a variety of health issues. After the protest and opposition from people, the state government issued six major guidelines for the safety of the people and environment. In the leadership of Deputy Commissioner, a committee had formed to ensure safety of locals. Districts MP and MLAs also were the part of this committee. The committee became a dummy and was never interested to ensure whether the guidelines are followed by MPRPL or not. Indirectly this committee also supports the violators of the rules," concluded Muneer.

The protesters demanded the district administration to implement the government guidelines immediately and to stop supporting the illegal activities of MRPL. They also demanded to withdraw the plan of expanding MRPL on a land of 10,000 acres, which is purely used for agriculture at present.

B K Imthiyaz, president, DYFI district committee, Aboobakkar, Member, Jokatte Grama Panchayath and Hemavati were present.

The procession started from the premises of Mini Vidhana Soudha in the city and culminated in front of the DC Office. A large number of locals took part in the march.