Thiruvananthapuram: Prafulla Samantray, who led the struggle against Vedanta's Bauxite mining plant at Niyamgiri in Odisha, and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey will be at Peringamala here on November 4 to offer support to the protest against Peringamala's proposed waste to energy plant. The protest is more than 100 days' old.
They have been visiting various ongoing protests in the country as part of Samvidhan Samman Yatra, an all-India tour to restore and protect the values of Indian Constitution, undertaken by National Alliance for People's Movements (NAPM). Medha Patkar is also expected, but her participation is not confirmed.
The protest in Peringamala panchayat has attracted national attention because of the nature of the site chosen for the plant. The plant is coming up in an area close to several tribal hamlets. "The all-India tour of NAPM has been choosing to support every issue which is connected with people's right to life. The Peringamala plant sabotages the rights of tribal people. Moreover, being a hill and forest area, the area is important ecologically. Earlier when the issue of IMA waste plant at Palode, which is not too far from this site, came up, it had attracted discussions at a national level. So, when this issue came up they decided to offer support," says NAPM state coordinator Kusumam Joseph. The activists will be in Ernakulam and Thrissur on November 5.
The negative consequences of the plant will not be confined to Peringamala panchayat, according to the protestors. Every person who drinks water from one of the 38 drinking water projects fed by Chittar river is at risk, as the river flows close to the plant, according to wildlife photographer Sali Palode. "This is not a small protest. It is an extremely ecologically fragile area, part of a UNESCO heritage site, with Varayattumudi and Ponmudi in its neighbourhood. The land chosen, continues to be used for cultivation. The effluents can affect every life near the site. Moreover, the government has plans to take waste from 40 km away and bring here. This can leave a polluting trail. Rather the government should look at source-level waste management," he says.
