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A war of words

Caught in the centre of furious public protests, a waste copper recycling plant in Goa has asked the international organisation Greenpeace to deal strictly with local citizens' protest groups. The move came after Greenpeace pledged its support to the protests.

Meta Strips, the plant being set up in South Goa, has charged the Anti-Meta Strips Citizens Action Committee ( amcac ) of misguiding and misinforming the public with "ulterior motives.' In a letter to Greenpeace, the company questioned the credentials of the citizens' group that has been spearheading a protest against the plant coming up in their area. The controversy was triggered of when amcac declared that it had secured support from Greenpeace.

In a counter-move, Meta Strips wrote to Greenpeace: "A respected agency like yours, which is fighting for the right cause of protecting nature and environment has been misled by amcac , who are colluding with miscreants. The basis of information supplied by amcac is totally one-sided and devoid of truth with the sole purpose of misinforming you about Meta Strips project.'

But Greenpeace appears not-too-convinced by the company's version. It thanked the company for "attempting to clarify' the situation, and requested that "this openness' be extended to answer other questions that would "allow us (Greenpeace) to assess the situation better'. Greenpeace has requested information on who would be the various partners, institutions involved in the Meta Strips venture and sought a clarification on their respective roles. Meta Strips says it will import waste copper wires, strip them and recycle the copper, which will then be exported back to Western buyers.

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