Rights group seeks NHRC help :Tundurru food park

Eluru: The Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) fact-finding committee urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) to take the issue of setting up of Aqua Mega Food Park in Tundurru village near Bhimavaram suo motu, as it involved the livelihood of thousands of people in this area. It also requested the President of India to intervene in the issue.

Highlights:

• APCLC fact-finding committee members interact with the villagers of Kamsali Bethapudi in Narsapuram rural mandal on Sunday
• The villagers of K Bethapudi say due to setting up of the food park, the water resources can be polluted and their livelihood will be affected.

The fact-finding committee consisting of APCLC state committee joint secretary Namburi Srimannaryana, executive member K V Ratnam and district committee secretary N V Ratnam toured Tundurru, Kamsali Bethapudi and Jonnalagaruvu villages and Nallamvarithota in Mogalturu mandal where five workers of Ananda Aqua processing unit died of leakage of Ammonium gas from a sump in March.

During their tour the fact-finding committee members interacted with the villagers. The villagers complained that they are facing harassment from the police and district administration as they are opposing the setting up of Aqua Mega Food Park. They expressed their fears over their future and lives following the recent incident of deaths due to ammonium gas leakage in Nallamvarithota in Mogalturu mandal.

“We are facing harassment from the police over the last two years. The police are using oppressing methods and restricted our movements in the villages,” the women in Tundurru complained to the team. The villagers of K Bethapudi said that due to setting up of the food park, the water resources could be polluted and affect their livelihood. After listening to the woes of the villagers, the fact-finding committee demanded that the government stop the construction of food park immediately, as it directly affects three villages and 40 villages indirectly in this area.

The committee alleged that the government had violated the Wetland Protection Act in this area, which restricts the allotment of agriculture lands to industrial purpose.The committee demanded filing of criminal cases against the officials who gave permission to industries, violating the Wetland Protection Act. It expressed concern over the illegal cases against the people who are fighting for their lives in this area.

It lamented that the official machinery had not registered cases against the managements which violated the Acts and were damaging the environment. “It is nothing but depravity of the officials… We demand the government to lift the cases against the innocent people who are fighting for their cause,” said the APCLC joint secretary Namburi Srimannarayana. He said that the committee demands cancellation all the permissions given to the Food Park and stop the construction of the park.

The committee expressed concern over the setting up of chemical related factories and diverting those effluents into the sea. The committee stated that if the chemical factories are situated in the coast areas, the seashore will become a death zone resulting to infertile of the soil and it affects the environment and the people. The committee alleged that the state government under the pretext of tourism development has been allotting thousands of acres for SEZ. The fertile land will become an infertile with this decision, the committee stated. It demanded a halt to the acquisition of lands in the name of SEZ.

Referring to the Mogalturu Aqua processing unit incident, the committee which consoled the family members, stated that the Government did not so far paid the compensation as announced to the bereaved families. “Only Rs.5 lakh were paid to the families each under Chandranna Bheema. The remaining amount so far not paid either by the Government or by the Management”, the committee member Srimannarayana said.