Cuddalore. 12 December, 2006 — At least 200 representatives from fishing villages in Pondicherry and Cuddalore gathered near the Farmer’s Market in Cuddalore town to hold a Black Flag agitation against Chemplast Sanmar’s PVC factory. Raising slogans against the company, the fisher gathering organised by Liberation Tigers of Fisherfolk condemned the project and demanded the Government to revoke the permissions given to the company. Chemplast is attempting to construct a marine terminal facility in addition to its PVC facility. The marine terminal will accommodate large ocean-going chemical tankers that will offload explosive and carcinogenic Vinyl Chloride Monomer via a jetty to be constructed 1 km off the coast of Chitrapettai. The marine terminal project is integral to the PVC project. Even if treated as a standalone project, it invokes the EIA Notification as it represents an investment of more than Rs. 50 crore. However, no public hearing was held for this project.
The gathering was addressed by Era. Mangaiyarselvan, founder-president of the Liberation Tigers; Ko. Venkatesan, the organisation’s general secretary, and Mr. Elumalai of the Tamilnadu Meenavar Peravai, and former President of Chitrapettai Panchayat.