The residents of Pottaloorani won’t let police to break up the protest camp

The police are attempting to tear down a structure that was erected to accommodate people who expressed solidarity against the three fish processing facilities that release an offensive stench, but the people living in Pottaloorani hamlet are vehemently opposed to this.

The authorities feel that the demonstrators’ erecting of a shed is evidence that the movement is gathering steam.

The people of Pottaloorani hamlet are protesting and calling for the shutdown of the private seafood processing plants because they are disgusted by the stink coming from them. It should be mentioned that the villages did not participate in the April 19 Lok Sabha elections since negotiations with the district government were not successful.

People are still uneasy about the matter despite the fact that the agitation has decreased and the district government is still doing nothing.
On Sunday, the locals built a shack near a pond in the community and put up two flex banners with demands that the fish processing facilities close and that the lawsuits brought against the public be dropped.

On Wednesday, the locals halted police and tax officials when they arrived at the location to take down the structure. One of the agitation’s organizers, Sankaranarayanan, said, “We have set up the “panthal” (shed) only to meet the organizations who are visiting the village and extending solidarity to our protest.”

The collector, who is also the District Election Officer, is the only person with the power to have negotiations since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is still in force, according to the Pottaloorani Agitation Committee, which also denied to hold talks with the deputy tahsildar and the inspector of the AWPS in Pudukkottai. Prior to this, the agitation committee had also refused to speak with the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) of Thoothukudi.