THOOTHUKUDI: Seeking action against windmill companies, claiming that they installed electricity poles on water bodies without seeking prior permission, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) cadre submitted a petition on Monday.
In the petition, which was dropped at the petition box at the collectorate office, NTK’s Vilathikulam secretary A Ramesu said that the windmill operators were installing turbines across Vilathikulam union areas. “They install electricity poles on waterways, paths meant for use by farms vehicles and on government ‘poramboke’ lands, without seeking prior permission. The windmill operators pay charges to install such poles or other structures on private lands. However, they take advantage of government lands and water bodies, ignoring the significance of such lands, especially for the farmers,” Ramesu told TNIE.
NTK cadre also urged the government to repair the 3-kilometre road from Panaiyur to Vepalodai, being laid under the MGNREGS since 2019.
Stating that the road works, taken up by a contractor in 2019, were incomplete and in bad shape before its completion, Ramesu said, “Students from Panaiyur largely use this road to reach school, and the ITI campus at Vepalodai. The district administration must probe the contractor who has not finished the work even after five years,” he stated.
'Roads under CM's schemes of poor quality'
In a separate petition, NTK's Vilathikulam Environment Wing Secretary Kalathadi Muthu alleged that poor quality roads were laid under the Chief Minister's Road Project schemes, from Arasankulam to Vedapatti and Puliyankulam to Vedapatti road in 2024. The contractor, who obtained the tender for the project illegally, took gravel from a nearby kanmoi. The tar road has also loosened, and the contractor has not visited the project even once, the petitioner stated and sought action against the contractor.