PADUBIDRI: Hundreds of villagers from Padoor-Heroor and Majoor villages took to
the streets on August 9, Monday in protest against the innumerous problems which they
are facing owing to the commencement of the works pertaining to the ISPRL crude oil
storage complex project at Padoor village near Kaup.
It is said that the ongoing works on either side of the road from UBMC School upto
Shantigudde has left the road that has been concretized under the Prime Minister’s Gram
Sadak Yojana in a total mess. Not only that, the hundreds of heavy vehicles that rush to
the project site daily has also posed much problems to the students of the nearby school.
It may be recalled here that a school girl had recently met a tragic end after she was
knocked down by a tipper in the area. Moreover, the use of explosives to break the rocks
has also been troublesome, the locals complain and add whenever some explosion is
made, road traffic is blocked for over an hour. The use of explosives has also developed
cracks on the walls of several houses, they say.
Villagers also complain that the surroundings of the nearby several villages have turned
unhygienic as the hundreds of labourers brought from other states for the project related
works, in the absence of proper sanitation, were making the surroundings unclean.
They have also warned of severe protests in the days to come if their problems were not
solved at the earliest. Kaup Legislator Lalaji R Mendon, Taluk Panchayat Member Arun
Shetty, social worker Leeladhar Shetty, Vasudeva Rao, Ganesh Shetty and hundreds of
villagers took part in the protest.
It has been learnt that the several people who had spearheaded a protest against the
proposed project when survey works had begun initially for the project, have now
changed tunes.
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