Nearly 100 days after the ammonia leak in Ennore, residents of Periyakuppam and Chinnakuppam have planned to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu on April 19.
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Locals, who have been protesting against Coromandel International Limited, a fertilizer manufacturing unit, expressed their discontent with the lack of penal action against the unit after a leak from the company’s offsite ammonia pipeline left residents of a few neighbouring villages in panic in the late hours of December 26, 2023.
For almost three months since then, locals of Periyakuppam, Chinnakuppam, and many from 31 other villages held a demonstration in front of the fertilizer unit. However, they were asked to suspend the protests after the Model Code of Conduct kicked in on March 16.
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On Tuesday, a gathering of five to six people near the fertilizer unit told The Hindu the protest was still on although they could not come together at the site. “We will sit here [Periyakuppam] on April 20,” one of them said.
Vishanth, an Ennore resident, who is part of Ennore Makkal Paathukaapu Kuzhu, said while the two villages had decided to boycott elections, much depended on the remaining ones. A few days before election, village elders might issue a writ against voting, he said.
A DMK functionary and resident of Nettukuppam, Kumaravel, said, “Whether we boycott elections or don’t, all of us definitely want the company closed.”
To mark 100th day of the demonstration, locals plan to distribute pamphlets on April 4 demanding closure of the fertilizer unit and also pass it on to party candidates who come for poll campaigning. The contestants for North Chennai constituency are DMK’s Kalanidhi Veersamy, AIADMK’s R. Manohar and BJP’s Paul Kanagaraj.