A section of the people of Koviloor village, who had been fighting against reopening of Tamil Nadu Chemical Products (TCP), hoisted black flags atop their houses on Saturday, demanding immediate closure of the plant.
Alleging that the plant, which is functioning for more than three decades, had caused extensive pollution in the area and serious health hazards, villagers at Melatheru staged the protest, demanding that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the district administration permanently shut the plant.
People at Melatheru, which is located close to the plant, hoisted black flags to express their protest, even as panchayat president Azhagappan hoisted the tricolour at the panchayat office and celebrated Independence Day.
Around 11 a.m., police visited the area and warned of action, after which the local people removed the black flags.
The police have detained two persons, Chelladurai and Naveen, who were allegedly in the forefront in staging the protest. When contacted, Superintendent of Police M. Durai said that they were taken into preventive custody.
Mr. Azhagappan said that the chemical plant had spoiled two main water bodies in the village that were used for irrigation, after hazardous effluents were let into them and forced the villagers to abandon agriculture in about 800 acres.
He said that in May, when the plant was reopened after it closed down on February 12 following a gas leak, people hoisted black flags in all the 1,300 households. But hoisting black flags on Independence Day did not augur well. The villagers could not be faulted as they were desperate to draw the attention of the authorities, he said.
The plant was producing sodium hydrosulphite (SHS) and leakage of sulphur dioxide from the plant on February 12 caused problems to the villagers.
Faulting the company for the leakage, TNPCB officials inspected the factory and ordered its closure holding that the gas leak had occurred owing to poor management of the plant.
Later, the officials granted permission to reopen the plant for trial run till the end of June on the condition that the plant should not let out effluents and pollute the atmosphere, sources in TNPCB said.
“Now the officials allowed the plant to run for six more months,” Mr. Azhagappan said.
