Public hearing on Divi's Labs unit in East Godavari dt. on Wednesday

The public hearing on Divi's Labs pharma unit being established in East Godavari district is to be held on Wednesday morning at Thondangi village.

Divi's Labs is proposing to set up a pharma unit to produce intermediates and APIs at Ontimamidi village in the Thondangi mandal of East Godavari district, with an investment of Rs 600 crores. The unit will have a capacity of 18,394.5 MTA and it will provide employment to 1,300 persons directly and 1,200 indirectly, according to company sources.

The unit is to be set up on 670 acres and close to the Bay of Bengal in the Kona area of Thondangi mandal. On the beach road from Kakinada to Ontimamidi junction there are several shrimp hatcheries which supply shrimp seed to the aqua farmers in the State.

Concerns: The owners of shrimp hatcheries are a worried lot, as they fear the effluents discharged by the pharma unit may contaminate sea water and ruin the production at the hatcheries. However, the Divi's Labs authorities have assured them that the most modern scientific effluent treatment plant (ETP) would be set up and the effluents would be discharged into the sea only after thoroughly treating them to the stipulated standards and there was no cause for concern.

Lakkaraju Satyanarain alias Tikoo, the president of the All-India Shrimp Hatcheries' Association, questions the siting of the industry. "What is the necessity for establishing the pharma unit so close to the shrimp hatcheries in East Godavari district? The unit can be set up in the pharma city at Vizag or elsewhere. If the shrimp hatcheries are affected, the entire aqua industry will be affected and AP is the number one state in shrimp exports. We have sent an SOS to the State Government. We want the unit relocated at some other place," he said and added that the assurances of the Divi's Labs authorities did not carry conviction.

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