VELLORE: Residents of Gollapalli village in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu on Sunday manhandled the workers and a driver of a bottled water company in the area and held them captive for trying to draw excessive groundwater for commercial purpose.The villagers damaged a vehicle used to transport the water and laid siege to the Thimmapettai police station to condemn what they called the police's inaction against their complaints."We filed complaints against the companies on April 19. Today (Sunday), we filed a complaint against the driver of the company who threatened us. The driver told us that he would run his vehicle over us if we stopped it. But the police did not file a case against him based on our complaints," said a villager.The villagers have been protesting since April 19 demanding the closure of three bottled mineral water companies -- Yelgris, Surabi and Acquagel -- in the village."The companies dug around 20 borewells on the Mannar river, a tributary of the Palar. The borewells are around 1,000 feet in depth. They are drawing excessive groundwater for over 15 years. Hence, the groundwater level had plummeted drastically. Now, we are facing serious drinking water problem," said A R Venugopal , a farmer in Gollapalli village.The situation worsened in the last few years following failure of monsoon. "We have been protesting against the mineral water companies for the last three years. We have also submitted petitions to district administration, but no action has been taken till date," he added.Recently, the villagers intensified their protest and submitted petitions to district administration, pleading to close the companies to stop further exploitation of groundwater for commercial purpose.Following this, the revenue officials attached to Vaniyambadi taluk conducted inspection at three water bottling units a couple of days ago and ordered suspension of production of mineral water bottles and sachets.The revenue officials were planning to facilitate peace talks between villagers and managements of the companies.However, the management of Yelgris company resumed production on Sunday and tried to transport a load of mineral water cans and bottles in a mini truck, claimed the villagers. Angered over this, the villagers prevented the company workers from loading water cans, 35 litres each, and they also punctured the tyres of the vehicle.The protest took an ugly turn when the driver of the vehicle and the company workers allegedly threatened the villagers and told them that he would crush them to death, if they dare to stop the vehicle anymore.Fumed over this, the villagers pelted stones at the vehicle and also roughed up the driver and workers of the company.The villagers held the driver and a few workers captive for over an hour. They were released after revenue and police officials pacified the villagers.A section of the villagers submitted a complaint against the company management. However, police allegedly refused to take the complaint.The villagers, condemning the lethargic attitude of the police, laid siege to the police station. After around 90 minutes, they disbursed.Sub-collector of Tirupattur K P Karthikeyan said Vaniyambadi tahsildar and a team of officials conducted inspections and collected documents from the companies. They were functioning after obtaining proper permission from Central Water Board "We have asked the villagers to be patient for a few more days. We will follow the procedures and take appropriate measures," he said.

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