TIRUVANNAMALAI: Farmers in Tiruvannamalai on Monday welcomed the Madras High Court quashing the land acquisition proceedings for ambitious Rs 10,000 crore Chennai-Salem eight-lane highway project.
The 277.3 km highway was proposed to connect Chennai and Salem, passing though Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, the longest stretch being in Tiruvannamalai with around 123.9 km. The verdict delivered by the High Court came after farmers, advocates and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) submitted several petitions.
“We are happy that the judges have addressed the woes of farmers who had been protesting vociferously against the project that would have brought irreparable damages to ecology and farmlands,” said Arul Arumugam, the convener of movement against the highway.
Arumugam said that the Centre and the State government had acquired lands from farmers, triggering slew of protests, some of which saw farmers attempting self-immolation in Tiruvannamalai.
“The Madras High Court has quashed the government notification as it was found to be in violation of the laws. If the government, in the future, submits notification to give life to the project again, our protests will become severe,” said S Abhiraman, advocate and chief coordinator of the committee of anti-eight-lane project.
He added that the project, at any cost, was not useful to the public and was not needed by way of causing damages to environment and sensitive forest areas in the district.Welcoming the High Court verdict, farmers celebrated the triumph by bursting crackers in several parts of the district.
L Alagesan, member of the committee here, claimed that the project would have exterminated as many as 1,500 farm wells, 15,000 teaks, 30,000 coconut trees, 25000 areca palm trees and hundreds of ponds in the five districts. The court’s decision has saved the lives of as many as 10,000 farmers in the districts, he said.