Titanium project: PMK to submit report to CM tomorrow

Thailapuram, Tamil Nadu, Aug 9 (UNI) Joining issue with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi regarding degradation of land at the site of the proposed Titanium dioxide plant, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S Ramadoss today said his party would file a report substantiating his claims to the Chief Minister tomorrow.

Addressing a press conference at his farmhouse here, he said his party had elicited the views of the people in the Southern Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts, where the proposed project was to come up. The report would be submitted to the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister had said there was not even an iota of truth in the apprehensions raised by certain quarters that if the project was taken up, the land would be reduced to a desert, he recalled, stating that they were not just apprehensions, but facts.

Dr Ramadoss cited the nine letters written by the Tuticorin Collector to the Government between June 30, 2005, and September 26, 2006, detailing the actual position and the people's apprehensions.

The Collector's report, based on the study by a committee, comprising the Tahsildar, RDO and other officials, said if mining was taken up in a depth of eight metres in the area, the place would become unfit for farming, drought would follow and the people would become refugees.

Even the Pollution Control Board had sent a report on January four, 2006, that the project would wipe off vegetation in the area, he added.

Refusing to accept Mr Karunanidhi's contention that mineral mining companies were already operating in the State, Dr Ramadoss said a giant like Tata group could not be compared with small firms.

Besides, the area was not fallow lands as said by the Government as coconut, cashewnut, palm and mango farming were undertaken in the area, he said.

He welcomed the Government's decision to start cable TV operations in the State.

UNI