Angry AP fishermen storm Divi’s plant over pollution threat

Kakinada: Hundreds of farmers and fishermen, backed by Left parties, damaged an under-construction plant of Divi’s Laboratories Limited at Kothapakala village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
The protesters barged into the plant by scaling the compound wall and set afire the generator and paint tins kept in a godown. A part of the compound wall was also broken.They also damaged the windshields of a few cars parked on the premises. A large number of women also participated in the attack.
Incidentally, this is the second instance of a major company seeing turmoil in less than a week, although for entirely different reasons. On December 12, workers turned violent at Wistron, a unit contract manufacturing iPhones for Apple in Bangalore, over salaries dues.
The issue at Divi’s is an old one where fishermen fear that effluents from the plant adversely affect their catch. In fact, fearing attack on the plant located near the sea coast, police had made elaborate security arrangements.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been in place for the last few days.
On Thursday, about 200 policemen were posted at the unit. But the security personnel were overpowered by a group of about 600 farmers, fishermen and activists of Left parties as they barged into the plant demanding that Divis Labs stop construction. Locals alleged that the plant when operational will release harmful substances into the sea. The farmers alleged the effluents would damage their fields.
When contacted, Divi’s Laboratories chief financial officer L Kishore Babu refused to comment on the development. The company had also not informed the bourses about the setback at the time of going to press.
Police took 15 people into custody. They also arrested five CPM leaders. Peddapuram deputy superintendent of police A Srinivasa Rao told TOI, “We have deployed more police personnel at the plant to maintain law and order. The situation is now under control.”
It all began in the morning with farmers and fishermen gathering in large numbers at the Divis plant site. They alleged that the pharma company will affect the livelihood of people living in 15 villages. There are 350 fish and prawn hatcheries in the region on which about 12,000 people depend for livelihood.
Local farmer leader Tirumalasetty Nageswara Rao said that farmers will not allow the construction of the plant as it will hurt their interest. He said the AP high court had given status quo order on the construction of the plant.