The residents of Mavoor in Kozhikode are done with the long wait for something useful to happen at the 400 acres of land that belonged to the erstwhile Gwalior Rayons (Grasim Industries). A meeting convened by the grama panchayat recently decided to take matters forward through intense protests and political intervention.
It has been 20 years since the factory shut down as a result of widespread protests on grounds of the pollution it had caused. Since then the local people have been asking for a non-polluting industry to come up in the now vacant land. But nothing has materialised so far.
“Of the 400 acres, 250 acres were acquired by the State government and were handed over to Grasim Industries. Most of us had contributed land, back in 1964 for the company that provided employment to around 50,000 people”, said P. Ummer, president, Mavoor Grama Panchayat, who had recently chaired an all party meeting, involving traders and other stakeholders as well, to discuss an action plan for the Grasim land.
