CHIKKAMAGALURU : The ongoing laying of a gas pipeline along the Shola forests and some coffee plantations in Mudigere taluk, has baffled not only environmental groups but also farmers who have already lost their lands due to the installation of diesel pipelines and an express power line.
The pipeline work taken up at a cost of `650 crore, covers a distance of 384 kilometres from Mangaluru to Bengaluru including 11 villages such as Gutti, Malarahalli, Gowdahalli, Horatti, Devavrinda, Hyaramakki, Kannahalli, Hurudi ,Heggaravalli and Chekkaradige in Mudigere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district.
With the work going on near Malarahalli, trees were felled and mud roads were laid along the Shola forests, allege locals.
Storage centres will be set up at Hassan, Yediyur, Sollur and Devanagutti. A pipeline will be laid between Mysuru and Hassan, covering a distance of 106 kilometres.
This project is aimed at saving on the exorbitant cost of transportation through road and railways, and is approved by the Gas Authority of India (GAIL).
The MRPL has already utilised a 80-foot strip of land for installing a diesel pipeline. The remaining land will be utilised by Hindustan Petroleum Ltd. The pipeline work is going on, but it is facing stiff resistance from farmers.
It was alleged that farmers who parted with lands for the diesel pipeline, had not been suitably compensated.
The farmers have demanded for compensation on the lines of the compensation given for the power line.Pipes measuring 11 inches in diameter will be laid from Mangaluru to Neriya up to a distance of 78.5 kilometres. Such pipes will also be laid between Neriya and Hassan. Between Hassan and Yediyuru, 16 inch pipes will be used, for a distance of 84.8 kilometres.
Pipes which are 8 inches in diameter will be used from Yediyuru to Solluru, and 10 inch pipes will be installed between Hassan and Mysuru covering 106 kilometres.
A large area of forest from Neriya to Sakleshpura will be damaged due to the work. Environmentalists have maintained silence on the issue said the farmers.
Karnataka Dhwani forum state vice president Horatti Raghu told Express that is was hard to comprehend why the government and the Forest Department, which had launched an eviction drive of encroachments in Malnad on the basis of the Balasubramanyan report and objected to the pipeline installation between Honnekadu and Kalasa for drinking water purposes, were silent on the laying of the gas pipeline.