SALEM: In the first arrest made in connection with the protests against the Green Corridor Expressway Project, two farmers were caught in the early hours of Saturday. Around 4 am, Ammpettai and Veeranam police officials went to Kuppanur Kattuvalavu and called Mariyappan, who was a cadre from NMK, and Muthukumar, a DMK man, for an inquiry. When they reportedly refused to cooperate, police arrested them with six others.
After five hours of inquiry, though the other six were released, Mariyappan and Muthukumar were booked under sections of 7(1) of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 151 (8) of The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This triggered a wave of protest, with people staging a stir in front of the Ammapettai police station.
The agitators warned of intensifying the protests if the project was not scrapped. Meanwhile, social activitst Piyush Seithea from Salem submitted a petition against the project at the DGP office in Chennai.
Ever since the State and Central governments decided to lay a 277-km Salem-Chennai expressway at a cost of `10,000 crore, the plan had been met with stiff opposition from farmers.
The government planned to occupy 7,500 acres of agricultural land in Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Thiruvannamalai districts, as well as 500 acres of reserved forest area, seven rivers, and eight hill stations, for the project. The government has started acquiring the land.
Meanwhile, details regarding acquisition of land were published and people were asked to register their opinions with the collector. A couple of days ago, when revenue officials went to measure the land for the project in Achankuttaipatti of Salem, people sent them back. They had also passed a resolution to withdraw the project.