Residents of Gudalur panchayat in the district today appealed to the Collector not to open a TASMAC outlet in their area.

In a petition to T.N. Hariharan, they alleged that officials have planned to open a TASMAC outlet in a place where an industry was functioning. “They have closed the industry and it looks like the outlet would open here anytime here where thousands of people reside,” they said in the petition.

There is a 120 feet deep well in the area from which women from the neighbouring places fetch water. “If the outlet is opened here, there will be no safety for women and to residents of Sivasakthi Colony, Gandhi Nagar and Makaliamman Nagar, who have to cross the outlet to reach various places,” the members alleged.

The members who came to the Collectorate holding placards also requested the administration to initiate steps to shift the proposed outlet elsewhere.