R Selvam, a former employee of KingвЂ™s chemicals and who is now part of the famerвЂ™s union said, вЂњWe are not advocates of violence, but when it is a question of survival and of life and death, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to protect our land and water.Elections are going on in the country. вЂњThe solid waste we generate would be given away to farmers as manure,вЂќ he said. A distillery official said the company would adopt pollution mitigation measures like a zero water discharge unit and famers would not be affected. I was forced to sell my land earlier this year to the company itself, since I had to arrange for my daughterвЂ™s wedding,вЂќ Rajendran said.ДЄsked what action it proposed, Assistant Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, M Poongodi said the MoEF that has to take action as per court directions. When they dumped their effluents, all of it flowed into my land, completely destroying my yield. P Rajendran, a villager who had filed a petition against the company almost 15 years ago has a bitter experience to narrate. KingвЂ™s Chemicals was accused of polluting the neighbourhood when it was operational. Water below a depth of 300 feet in lower Thanjavore region has a sulphur band and water extracted from lower levels cannot be used for agricultural purposes, a villager practising organic farming said. He added, вЂњThis factory will not only affect us but more than 12 nearby villages, including, Thalikottai, the native village of Baalu, a few kilometres from here.вЂќ Vadaseri has a population of 6,000 and the average population of other villages varies between 3,000 and 4,000. If we have to continue our farming here, we just cannot allow this factory to become operational,вЂќ says AG Krishnamoorthy, the head of the farmers union. We use borewells in this region and the problem is that if we dig below 300 feet, the water becomes oily and unusable. вЂњWe grow paddy, corn, black gram, and tapioca. They said the factory will use upto 14 lakh litres of water per day, which would spell doom for farming in the region. Those miscreants were responsible for all the violence,вЂќ he said.ДЇarmers in the region depend on the rainfed Kalagam, a small river flowing through the region and groundwater for irrigation. вЂњPeople were brought from outside for the public hearing. When contacted, Rajakumar said his company was not responsible for the violence. вЂњWe do not care what he (the former minister) does with the land as long as he does not set up the factory which will pollute our region and use up all of the available water,вЂќ he added. вЂњIt became defunct in 1995,вЂќ said T Kumaran, a resident of the village. It was producing industrial alcohol used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

KingвЂ™s Chemicals and DistilleryвЂ™s Limited started operating in 1991. The PUCL recommended a fresh public hearing that is unbiased and fair. The PeopleвЂ™s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said the lathi-charge on the villagers by the district police force, under the supervision of Thanjavur district superintendent of police, was unwarranted. Two villagers were allegedly attacked with aruvas (sickles), by the minister's supporters more than 25 people were remanded by the police following clashes between villagers and people allegedly working for the factory owners. The protests gained momentum after a public hearing, organised by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), in April, turned violent. The residents, under the banner of the Vadaseri Village Farmers Union, have been protesting against the industrial alcohol distillery for many months, saying it would deplete groundwater in the region. The court passed the interim injunction against the distillery, owned by Baalu's son, T R B Rajakumar, on a public interest petition. On July 15, the Madras High Court, while passing a restraint order against grant of environmental clearance to the project, asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to ascertain if the project is viable. Former union minister T R Baalu's attempts to revive a distillery near his village in Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu has been halted.

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