Following a series of protests by the public near Palladam, Tahsildar Jaisingh Shivakumar has ordered the suspension of the mechanical operation of the 15-year-old private steel plant at Anupatty village.
Tirupur: The residents of Anupatti village near Palladam in Tiruppur district have been engaged in a series of protests for the past five days, alleging that a private iron smelter is operating illegally to pollute the environment.
As the villagers continued their protest for the fifth day, the Tahsildar, Pollution Control Board officials and police officials called the villagers at the Palladam Tahsildar's office and held peace talks.
In the peace talks that lasted for 12 hours, villagers and farm union functionaries complained to the tehsildar about the damage caused by the plant and government norms for not following the iron smelter.
Moreover, when they asked for documents regarding the licence to operate the plant, the pollution control board officials did not provide any documents and got into an argument for some time.
Following this, he submitted to the tahsildar a document on the licence issued to the plant at the block development office.
It has been found that the factory has been operating without a proper licence for the last eight years after the licence issued in 2014 expired in 2015 itself.
They also demanded that the documents submitted on behalf of the plant management be made available to the public to renew the licence as the licence issued on behalf of the Pollution Control Board expires on March 31.
The peace talks lasted for 12 hours as the authorities did not provide the documents sought by the public.
It was also explained that the Pollution Control Board had returned the application filed online on behalf of the plant management for extension of the licence.
Vatachiyar Jaisingh Shivakumar conducted an inquiry based on the documents submitted by the factory management and the documents submitted by the pollution control board officials and the block development officer.
Following this, the Tahsildar directed the officials to suspend the mechanical operation of the plant as the plant was running without a licence for 8 years even after the expiry of the licence issued by the Block Development Officer and since the plant was running without a licence for 8 years, it would affect various public situations if the plant was operated without proper extension of the licence and there would be law and order problems as the extension of licence to operate the plant has been suspended temporarily.He has issued an order.
The villagers thanked the tehsildar's order as the 12-hour-long peace talks came to an end. The villagers have also announced that the protest will continue till the plant is permanently shut down.