India: mob cuts power to poultry farm, 700,000 birds die

06-07-2012 | | |

A sit-in protesting the emissions from a poultry facility in India took a turn for the worse when the protest turned into a mob. Forcing their way in, the mob cut off the farm’s power supply causing 700,000 chickens to die from asphyxiation.

A mob barged in to the Radha Sakku Agrio Bio Pharma and switched off the power supply. The company officials have estimated losses up to Rs210 million (€3 million).

The long drawn protest by the local people against the pollution and the stink emitting from the poultry farm in Karlam village took an ugly turn when hundreds of people from surrounding villages staged a sit-in protest in Karlam demanding the closure of the unit.

The poultry farm belongs to the Radha Sakku Agro Bio Pharma company which also runs the other units of its business from the same premises. Alleging that that the stink and the pollution was adversely affecting their health, the people from Karlam, Alajangi and Metpally villages sat down on the road.

The local police and revenue department officials intervened but to no avail. A settlement appeared possible as the Chipurupally police station sub inspector Adbul Maroof and revenue divisional officer M Shankar Rao assured the people that a general body meeting of the village will be called on July 22 to resolve the matter and company officials will also give explanation. The company officials assured that they will take necessary action to stop the smell coming from their premises.

But the situation suddenly got out of hand as another group of villagers attack the company and ransacked it and switched off the power supply. Though the police later used force to disperse the mob the restoration of power supply took a very long time. Deputy general manager of the company Sitrama Raju was also injured in the attack.

Officials said that the birds were kept in air conditioned halls as the region is still in the grip of a heat wave.

Tension has gripped the area and additional police forces have been deployed in Karlam and surrounding villages.

On company’s claim of losses, revenue department officials said that they were still enumerating and estimate the losses.

Source: Gulf News
 

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