People's groups stage dharna

People's groups stage dharna VISAKHAPATNAM: People's organisations and political parties lashes out at government for allowing the East Coast Energy Private Limited to start construction of a super critical thermal power plant on wetlands at Kakarapalli in Srikakulam district and demanded that all permissions given to the plant withdrawn immediately, at a dharna organised in front of the Collectorate here on Monday. Two persons died and several were injured in the police action on the protestors on February 28 and earlier, when the villagers tried to stop construction of the plant. Representatives of the organisations and parties said since the beginning the officials did not give the correct information on the nature of the land, the environmental damage the plant would cause and only gave ‘false reports'. They said that they had been telling the government that local people would be uprooted from their lands and lose their lands and fishing in the sea would not be possible but the government did not bother and insisted that the plant should come up. State secretary of Human Rights Forum V.S. Krishna said most of the pollution-making units received sanction during the term of present Union Minster for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh while CPI district secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy questioned when the power plant had no permits how the officials of Srikakulam allowed construction to commence. Probe demanded The dharna participants also demanded the government to withdraw all the cases filed against the villagers, order a judicial inquiry into the police firing on Feb. 25 and 28 and take over the land allotted to ECEPL and ensure that the wetlands are protected. Others who have participated in the dharna were Chalasani Prasad (Virasam), M. Lakshmi (POW), M. Nandana (fisheremen union), M. Venkateswarlu (IFTU), B. Ganga Rao (CPI(M)), M. Pydiraju (CPI), G. Jayanth (APCLC), K. Venkata Ramana (Jai Bheem Cultural Association), J.V. Ratnam (NAPM), Teddu Sankar (fishermen youth association), P.V. Ramana (anti-privatisation struggle committee), etc. © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu