TIRUVANNAMALAI: Scores of farmers staged a demonstration in front of the collectorate in Tiruvannamalai on Monday urging the State and Central government to give up the controversial Chennai-Salem eight-lane expressway.
The protest was organised by the Movement against Eight Lane Expressway, a federation of farmers' organisations. General secretary of Tamil Farmers Association P Shanmugam presided over the demonstration.
Talking to reporters, he said, the farmers would thwart the governments, at any cost, from going ahead with the project. "The farmers cannot be threatened or intimidated to part with their land for the eight-lane expressway. If the governments adopt coercive methods, we will thwart the move even by laying down our lives," he stated.
He wanted the State and Central government to give up the project by taking into account the interests of the farmers. Shanmugam warned that the farmers would lay siege to the State Assembly when it convenes in February demanding Tamil Nadu government to bring in a resolution against the eight-lane expressway.
Referring to the installation of high rise towers for transmitting high tension power through farmland, he urged Tiruvannamalai district collector to ensure the concerned farmers received the compensation before any activities regarding the towers are taken up on their land.
Similar demonstrations were held in Kancheepuram, Dharmapuri and Salem districts also. This is the first of a series of stir announced by the Movement against Eight Lane Expressway post Supreme Court judgment which set aside the order passed by Madras High Court nullifying the notification for land acquisition.