Plea to give free fly ash to brick manufacturing units

THOOTHUKUDI

Urging Tamil Nadu government to give them a portion of the fly ash generated from Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), fly ash bricks and blocks manufacturers submitted a petition to District Revenue Officer S. Kannapiran at the weekly grievance redress meeting here on Monday .

 The petitioners, led by founder president of Tamil Nadu Fly Ash Bricks and Blocks Manufacturers’ Association T.S. Saravanan, said the TTPS, having 5 X 210 MW units, was generating 3,500 tonnes of fly ash a day and 20% of this waste – i.e. 700 tonnes of fly ash – was given to bricks and blocks manufacturing units which were making wealth from this waste.

 Since the government did not renew after March 31 last the Government Order that paves way for giving free fly ash to the brick and blocks manufacturers, the waste is not given to 120 units. Consequently, thousands of workers of these units have been rendered jobless and their families are starving.

The Tamil Nadu Government should renew the order to give the fly ash free of cost to the brick and blocks manufacturing units, they said.

 A group of youth from Thalamuthu Nagar submitted petition seeking immediate repairing of the badly damaged roads in their area causing accidents. The petitioners said the damaged roads in busy Thalamuthu Nagar were causing accidents and a school student was killed in the latest accident on last Wednesday on Thalamuthu Nagar Main Road. Despite repeated appeals to the officials, no step has been taken to repair the roads.

 “Besides removing the encroachments on both sides of the Thalamuthu Nagar main road, the deep pits on this stretch should be closed properly before relaying it after the end of the monsoon. Moreover, the heavy vehicles should be allowed to take this road only between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. to avert accidents,” said Michael Anto, one of the petitioners.

 Villagers from Kumareddiyarpuram, Meelavittaan, Madaththur, South Veerapandiapuram, Ayyanadaippu, Kaayaloorani, Sillanaththam, Therkku Silukkanpatti, Pandarampatti, Pudur Pandiyapuram and Mattakkadai and residents of coastal areas such as Terespuram, Lourdhammalpuram and Lions Town submitted petitions demanding reopening of Sterlite Copper unit, which remains sealed since May 2018 after violence erupted in the anti-Sterlite protest that led to police firing.