Villagers protest against Uppur thermal project.

The multi-crore 1,600-MW Supercritical Thermal Power Plant, coming up at Uppur in the coastal Thiruvadanai block, continues to face trouble, with residents in and nearby villages launching a protest against the project fearing threat to their livelihood.

Hundreds of men and women thronged the District Collectorate here on Friday and staged a dharna opposing construction, which, they claimed, blocked the waterway, destroyed waterbodies, agriculture land and ruined the livelihood of farmers in Naganendal, Valamavur (south and north), Thirupalaikudi and Uppur villages.

Village leader Thana Mathivanan, who led the protest, said the project blocked the 238-acre waterway through which surplus water from Rajasingamangalam big tank — the second largest water body in the State — and its 58 branches was released.

The alternative waterway being readied by the administration and TANGEDCO, the executing agency of the project, was too small and the surplus water received during the monsoons would flood the villages and pose danger to the lives of the people.

The authorities acquired farmlands in gross violation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, he said.

THE HINDU