Udupi: KRRS, Pejawar mutt head part company

DHNS

• “You are an agent of the UPCL,” farmer-activists tell the seer

 

Udupi, 05 March 2011: The alliance between the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and Pejawar mutt seer Vishveshateertha against the Udupi Power Coropration Limited (UPCL) has broken down, and both have declared that they would pursue the ’’struggle’’ separately.

 

 

The breakdown came over a meeting convened by Pejawar mutt seer Vishveshateertha with UPCL officials and experts to discuss the fly ash and salt water problems allegedly due to UPCL thermal plant, which was strongly criticised by the Udupi unit KRRS. The meeting too proved unproductive.

 

The meeting was attended by Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ravindra Reddy, Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Kishore Alva, Sudarshan Prasad and Girish Navada of UPCL, while KRRS District President Vijay Kumar Hegde sat among the mediapersons, as he was not invited to join the others on the dais.

 

When the UPCL officials were explaining about the plant, some KRRS members rushed inside the hall and began shouting to take a decision on the future action.

 

With the situation becoming tense, police intervened and sent out the farmers and residents from the affected areas from the hall. The farmers and residents shouted slogans against the seer, describing him as the “agent of the company.”

 

Addressing the mediapersons, Hegde announced that the Raitha Sangha will not rest until the plant was closed. “We will not reveal our strategy. Our silent agenda will work towards closing down of the company. We don’t need anymore guidance and leadership from seer,” he added. The KRRS members were aggrieved over seer’s decision to convene the meeting, thereby facilitating the forum for UPCL officials to provide their arguments. They said the deadline to shut down of the functioning of the plant was past.

 

The pontiff told the leaders of Raitha Sangha that he wanted to know the pros and cons of keeping the UPCL power plant shut or running and he has no hidden agenda behind the talks.

 

 

“I will continue my personal fight against any harm to the environment that may be caused due to the plant, whether I get support or not. I will also convene another meeting of various experts, he said.

 

The Raitha Sangha activists later met the tahsildar and sought to know about the environmental report. The tahsildar replied that he had not issued any environmental report.

 

The agitators laid a siege to the pump house of the power plant at Padubidri and locked the pump house symbolically.