'Blindfolded' agaitation against proposed Chamalapura Thermal plant

Mysore, Aug 27 (UNI) The farmers of Chamalapura today staged a novel protest by taking out a silent procession with blindfolded and carrying portraits of freedom fighters in the city to protest against the proposed Thermal Power Plant in their village, Members of the Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM), including women blindfolded with black cloth, took out a procession hanging around their neck Photos of great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr B R Ambedkar, Rajendraprasad, Lalbahadur Shastri, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jayachamarajawadiyar, Subash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh.

The message was obvious those leaders laid down their lives for the country protesting the British rule, now the protestors symbolically vowed to sacrifice their lives in protest against the thermal plant.

The blindfold suggested that the government has literally kept the hapless people in the dark and going ahead with the plant which was a dangerous to the people and environment.

The protesters also staged dharna at K R Circle, for some time disrupting the vehicular traffic. Later submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner N S Channappa Gowda, appealing to the State government to drop the proposed project immediately.

The proposed Rs 5500 Crore project of 1000 Mw of power in an area of 2500 acres of land in Chamalapura village on Mysore H D Kote road. This project was one among the three power projects approved by the state government with other two being Gataprabha and Jivaragi in North Karnataka.

UNI