Congress opposes ethanol factory in Jagtial

Warangal: With the establishment of the ethanol factory, the BRS government is playing with the lives of thousands of people living in the surrounding villages of Velgatoor mandal. With the pollution of air and water along with the soil, people will face a lot of health complications, alleged Congress senior leader and MLC T. Jeevan Reddy.

MLC was house-arrested by the police officials at Indira Bhavan to prevent him from meeting the villagers of surrounding villages in Velgatoor mandal here in Jagtial district on Saturday.

It is to be noted that welfare minister Koppula Eshwar on Friday laid a foundation stone for the establishment of the ethanol factory in around 110 acres of land with an investment of Rs. 100 crore at the outskirts of the Stambampalli village in Velgatoor mandal.

After coming to know about the ethanol factory, the farmers and villagers from surrounding villages, along with DCC president Adluri Laxman and other Congress leaders, staged a road blockade on the national highway opposing the establishment of the ethanol factory in the region.

Speaking on the occasion, Jeevan Reddy expressed his anger for house arresting him and preventing him from meeting the villagers, as well as for laying the foundation stone for the establishment of the ethanol factory without giving any information to the people of the region.

When the people of Karimnagar and Sircilla regions denied the establishment of the ethanol factory in their respective districts, showing the reason that there is government land available in the Velgatoor mandal, establishing the factory in this region was totally unfair to the people of the surrounding villages in Velgatoor mandal.

After the establishment of the factory, by diverting and using the one tmc of water from Yellampalli reservoir, effluent water from the factory will be released back into that reservoir, which may result in pollution of water and land, he pointed out.
For whose sake the government is establishing the ethanol factory when the villages present in the surrounding area will be affected by the pollutants that will be emitted from the factory, he questioned.

If Koppula Eshwar wants to do something for the people of the district, he must establish a sugar factory, which would be highly helpful for the sugarcane farmers, he added.

Jeevan Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was ruling like a dictator and a monarch in the state and suppressing the voice of the opposition leaders.

By imposing restrictions, the BRS government is killing democracy in the state, and the purpose of the formation of the separate Telangana state was completely changed under the regime of Chandrashekar Rao, he added.