Massive anti-tungsten rally paralyses NH, Madurai city

MADURAI: Stirred by the fear of losing their livelihood, thousands of villagers and farmers, backed by traders and political functionaries, staged a massive rally on Tuesday against the proposal to mine tungsten in Nayakkarpatti village in Melur taluk of Madurai.

The rally from Narasingampatti by villagers and farmers affiliated to ‘Mullaiperiyar Oru Bogam Paasana Vivasayigal Sangam’ gained momentum after villagers from Nayakkarpatti, Arittapatti, and Vellalapatti raised slogans against the Union government and sought the cancellation of the project. By the time it reached Tallakulam in Madurai, it grew in size to become a mammoth procession, including many on foot, and others on vehicles, including tractors.

“The protests would continue till the union government scrapped the tungsten mining project, as the livelihood of thousands of villagers largely dependent on agriculture would be wiped out,” said PR Pandian, president, coordination committee of All Farmers Association of Tamil Nadu.

He demanded that villages in the area, including Arittapatti in Melur taluk, should be declared as ‘protected agriculture zone’ to conserve farming and protect farmers.

Echoing him, K Selvaraj from Cumbum said the villagers fear that thousands of acres of agricultural land would be taken over for the mining block, which would kill their livelihood.

Muthukrishnan, president, Melur Traders Association, said more than a thousand shops in the taluk remained closed on Tuesday in solidarity with the agitating villagers.

Many of the protesters squatted on the Gandhi Museum Road and raised slogans against the Centre and the project, throwing traffic out of gear.

South Zone IG Prem Anand Sinha pacified the agitating crowd, which later dispersed. As many as 1,400 police personnel were deployed to control the situation, sources said.