COIMBATORE: Farmers from the Madukkarai union, whose lands have been acquired for laying GAIL pipeline, have alleged that the work has begun even before the compensation for crops and land was fixed. It has been almost two months since their crops were cleared for the project, but there has been no word on deciding the compensation, the farmers said at a grievance meet on Friday.
K Gnanavel, a farmer from Pichanur, said, “Before removing coconut, teak, banana and mango trees from our land, officials from GAIL assured us that compensation would be fixed within two weeks after a meeting with farmers. But, nothing of that sort has happened so far.
While responding to a petition we submitted, GAIL said compensation would be distributed after getting approval from the Collector. However, they are yet to even decide upon the compensation.” The 444-km-long Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline project’s first stretch was commissioned in June 2019. In Coimbatore, the pipelines cross through five villages in Madukkarai union.