COIMBATORE: Farmers of five villages in Madukkarai union whose lands were acquired for laying GAIL (India) pipeline have alleged that they have not received compensation even after the crops were removed from their lands a month ago.
The farmers submitted a petition to Collector K Rajamani on Friday seeking his intervention into the issue, besides demanding compensation for the crops they lost. It may be noted that the 444 km-long Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline project’s first stretch of 96km from Kochi to Koottanad was commissioned in June last year. Koottanad is the point from where the pipeline bifurcates to Mangaluru (via Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod) and Bengaluru (via Palakkad, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri). In Coimbatore, the pipelines cross through five villages in Madukkarai union.
K Gnanvel, one of the 64 farmers who lost their lands, said that Kinathakadavu MLA Shanmugam and GAIL officials conducted a consultative meeting a month ago after the farmers opposed the government’s decision to acquire lands for the Rs 3,263-crore project. During the meeting, the farmer said, the government announced its decision to provide the market cost of the lands as compensation to us.
“However, the public sector undertaking (GAIL) has not taken any step towards disbursing compensation to the affected farmers till now,” Gnanavel complained in the petition. Farmers claimed that they are yet to be informed about the quantum of compensation they would receive.
“It has been a month since our crops were removed from the lands. When we asked an official, we were told that the compensation figure will be arrived at only after the pipeline is laid. The official said that the process would take time,” he said, urging the district administration to fasten the process considering livelihood issues of the farmers.