I have lost faith in UPCL: Pejawar seer

Bellevision Media Network

Santhur / Padubettu, Udupi, 17 March 2011: "I am fully convinced about people’s sufferings due to the fly ash and effluents being generated by UPCL. After visiting the fly ash pond at the UPCL site in Santhur, and Padabettu which is nearly 7 km from the site, I have no faith in UPCL senior executives," said Pejawar seer Vishvesha Thirtha Swami here on Wednesday.

 

He reiterated his stand that the only solution left for UPCL is to go for a temporary closure of their plant at Yellur and employ corrective measures. "Even after corrective measures have been taken, if people of the villages at UPCL site still complain about the problems I have no other option other than joining them in their struggle for the closure of the plant," he said.

 

The seer said he will not join the protesters in the demonstration or street protest, but will continue with his nithyopavasa (fasting), starting from Saturday, until all problems are fully solved.

 

 

At the fly ash pond in Santhur, UPCL executives Ravindra and Kishore Alva were trying to convince the seer that there was no fly ash flowing out from the pond and that the water in the pond contained fly ash, which is not assimilating in the air. Localites who were denied entry to the site, told the seer that the pond was being filled with water only in the last couple of days and that the UPCL continued to dump fly ash here.

 

Local residents, Rajani and Vanitha, told the seer that the water mixed with fly ash from the pond is seeping into their low-lying paddy fields and ruining their crops. They said it is also contaminating well water and the nearby river.

 

The Padabettu story is no different. The seer revisited the wells of Poovappa Poojari and others in Padabettu on Wednesday evening. The seer who was here a fortnight ago, heard the same stories that all the wells were contaminated either with the effluents or with the fly ash and the water had turned salty.

 

Poovappa Poojari showed the seer their plantain gardens which had no yield because of the contaminated water. The seer said: "UPCL has made no attempts to correct their mistakes, I have no trust in them."

 

- TNN / Udayavani