Udupi: Raita Sangha Sets March 3 Deadline for UPCL Closure
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Mar 1: District president of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha, Vijayakumar Hegde, has demanded for the closure of Udupi Power Corporation Ltd’s thermal power plant near Nandikoor in the district on or before March 3. He said that the district is facing the prospect of destruction because of the activities of this company.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday February 28, he said that a meeting of farmers will be convened on March 4, if the company fails to shut its generation process by then, and a decision on the final action plan will be taken there. He added that Pejavar Mutt Swamiji had extended support to the fight of the farmers against UPCL.
He alleged that some officials have been issuing statements aimed at misleading the people, and condemned this practice. “The officials, without throbbing to the plight of the people, have been siding with the company, and working for UPCL. Although these officials have no knowledge about technology, they are issuing statements with the primary objective of cheating the people,” he said.
He predicted that the underground water all over the region will get polluted, as the ash pond of the company will have saline water perennially. “The company burns about 1,400 truck loads of coal every day, and this can set off blasts. Because of the lasts, the district may suffer from earthquakes. If the walls of the ash pond give way, thousands of people living in low-lying areas will get buried under the ash, and lose their lives. As coal powder gets strewn around while being transported through trains, the areas around the railway tracks will turn toxic and poisonous,” he predicted.
Raita Sangha leaders, Sudhakar Shetty, Prakash Shetty, Nitin Shetty, Shashidhar Shetty, Srinath Hegde, Ganapati Kamath, and others were present at the press conference.