MOVED from Goa to Gurnmiclipoondi near Madras in Tamil Nadu, the proposed Thapar-Dupont nylon 6,6 project has come under fire once again. Goan environmental activist Claude Alvares, who had been at the forefront of the struggle to oust the project from Goa, has pointed out that the project could prove to be a major drain on Tamil Nadu's scarce water resources.

Water off-take for the project has been estimated at an astronomical 6.6 million gallon a,day. For a state plagued perennially by an acute water crisis, such a substantial diversion of the scarce resource could make matters worse.

Alvares has charged the 2 partners in the venture - the Thapar group and the us-based Dupont - of having poor environment protection records. "According to the us Environmental Protection Agency, Dupont is the single largest polluter of air and water on earth," he says. Moreover, Dupont's clever wording of the technical collaboration agreement, which absolves the multinational of any liability in case of an industrial disaster, has made its avowed commitment to environment protection questionable.