Udupi: Fishermen and common folk protested the setting up of a fish processing plant in Heroor village in Chanthar Gram Panchayat in Udupi district on Monday.

Hundreds gathered in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner and shouted slogans. The dharna was organized by the Meenu Samskarana Ghataka Sthapane Virodhi Samiti.

The plant is expected to come up in the midst of agricultural lands near the Madisal rivulet. There is also a vented dam close by. Many people in the area, which has nearly 3,000 residents, fear that the effluents discharged by such a plant would be left into the rivulet, polluting it. Already, there are pollution-related problems in areas where some such plants operate.

Addressing the protesters, Jnanavasantha Shetty, leader of the Samiti, said a businessman had managed to get a No-objection Certificate (NOC) for conversion of land from the panchayat.

The fish-processing unit is being proposed to be set up on this land. Questions have been raised as to how the NOC was given for land conversion by the Panchayat Development Officer.