Locals against left channel lining works

Thotapalli (Vizianagaram): Locals of Thotapalli and its surrounding villages staged a dharna and organized a rally against the lining works of left channel of the project.

They staged a dharna on the bank of left channel on Thursday and expressed their agony over the laying of cement concrete at the bottom of the channel, which would damage the ground water level here.

Addressing the gathering, former MLA K Lakshmana Murthy stated that the government was violating the norms and damaging the environment. Laying of cement concrete at the both edges of the channel would not hurt but laying of cement at bottom of the project would affect the ground water and it would lead to drying of tubewells in this region.

“We will join hands and oppose the anti-farmer and anti-environment policies of the government,”he said. Environment activist Dr D Pari Naidu stated that the contractor has uprooted thousands of trees on the both sides of channel and damaging the environmental balance.