NEW DELHI, Jan 7: More than 10,000 farmers and villagers from Melur and nearby regions, on Tuesday went on a 25-km long procession from Narasingampatti to Tallakulam in Madurai city demanding scrapping of the Tungsten mining project in Melur taluka in Madurai district.
Protestors, both men and women, travelled in cars, bikes, tractors, buses, lorries and also on foot, marched from a temple at Narasingampatti in the morning and reached the city in the afternoon. Despite the police barricading the roads at some of the important junctions like TNAU, Othakadai and Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, protesters managed to break the cordon and steadily marched towards their intended destination.
However, many of the protesters were allegedly detained by police to prevent huge gatherings. Condemning the arrest, protesters refused to disperse and went on shouting slogans demanding the release of those detained.
The protesters raised slogans against Union government for continuing the project despite strong objections from the people and State government. They said, leaving out just 500 acres from the 5,000 acres earmarked for the project would do no good to the people and environment.
“As we have already seen plenty of damage to the environment through projects like granite quarrying, we cannot withstand the destruction to our land anymore,” they added. Supporting the protest, S. Rethinavelu, President, Agro Food Chamber of Commerce and Industry, spoke about how the project would affect the agriculture, the sole livelihood for the people in the area.
When the food production is stopped in the area, it was not only a loss to those people, but also thousands of people who were indirectly related to the food production, he added. Madurai deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan, farmer leader P.R. Pandian, had also joined the protest.
(Manas Dasgupta)
