PUDUCHERRY: A public hearing, on Thursday, meant to record the opinions of local residents and NGOs on the disputed garbage dump yard at Kurumampet was disrupted by ruling party MLAs, who demanded that the project be shut down immediately. A crowd of around 500 residents had gathered at the public hearing, expecting to have their unanimous opposition to the dump yard taken on official record, but returned home disappointed.Local residents had come down harshly on the project, citing health and environmental concerns.Even before the hearing began, the residents’ vociferous opposition to the project was apparent. They waited patiently for Collector Deepak Kumar to come and chair the hearing. The local community does not want the dumping yard. “We must all ensure we stay and make our voices heard on record, so that the Ministry of Environment and Forests doesn’t give a No Objection Certificate to the dump yard,” screamed one resident to the others present. Just as the meeting was set to begin, after an hour’s delay, local MLAs of the ruling party, P Karthikeyan and Ashok Anand voiced their opposition to the project loudly. They insisted that the public hearing must be cancelled and the project shelved. They were then joined by opposition MLA Theni Jayaraman. With no way of carrying on, Collector Deepak Kumar postponed the meet.
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