Eastern water bottling plant plan sparks public protests  

Residents of Pullemadu, a Tamil village in Chenkaladi, Batticaloa have vowed to stage a “hartal” campaign tomorrow against a proposed massive water bottling plant to be set up in the area to export bottled water to West Asia.
Hundreds of people in the area today distributed leaflets and pasted posters on walls creating awareness on tomorrow’s hartal claiming that the water resources in Pullemadu will be depleted by this private sector water project.
They have appealed to shop owners and other public and private institutions in the village to close down their shops and establishments as a mark of protest against the setting up of this water bottling plant.
Residents alleged that a State Minister in the area was behind this water bottling plant as he has some vested interest with the company involved in the project.
“We’re fighting to protect public water resources from the aggressive efforts of companies pushing to secure new sources of water for bottling in rural areas,” a resident said over the phone. (Bandula)