effluents spur boycott: Farmers from Kuppam village in Tamil Nadu's Karur district have declared a boycott of the assembly elections, scheduled for May 8-10, 2006. They allege that effluents from bleaching and dyeing units in Tirupur, upstream of the Noyyal, have seriously affected the village in the past few years. But the government has paid no heed to their complaints. The farmers allege that the industrial effluents have caused havoc to nearly 8,000 hectares of cultivatable land in Karur district and polluted 1,000 cusecs of drinking water.
and so does garbage: Kuppam's farmers are not alone. Some 2,000 voters from 20 villages including Vellalore, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu,have also threatened to boycott the coming elections, unless their demand to shift the garbage dumping yard in the area is met.
Coimbatore Municipal Corporation's garbage dump, the cause of the villagers' ire, sprawls over 280 hectares, covering 20 villages. The corporation dumps around 550 tonnes of municipal wastes here, leading to serious health hazards, allege the villagers. The villagers have been protesting against the dump for the last three years. But the corporation has turned a deaf ear to their protests.
but boycott doesn't pay: So feel voters from Murshidabad, Nadia and Malda districts in West Bengal. They had boycotted polls in the past to protest against the state government's failure to check the ravages that ensue when the Ganga changes course in the region. But the boycotts had little effect. So this time, there is no boycott call, says Ganga Bhangan Protoridh Action Nagrik Committee. Instead, the organisation has directed its energies at strengthening links between affected people in the three districts, and is building up a social movement that draws inspiration from the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
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