SIPCOT: Vembur villagers to stage hunger strike on March 21 as talks fail

Amid this juncture, a peace meeting, chaired by tahsildar C Suba, was convened with farmers and land owners at Ettayapuram taluk office on Tuesday, but it failed to make progress.

The workers had repeatedly approached the private firm that engaged them regarding their salary arrears but received no response. (Express Illustration)

THOOTHUKUDI: After talks with government officials regarding the acquisition of land for a SIPCOT project in Vilathikulam taluk failed to make headway on Tuesday, residents of Vembur village are likely to stage a hunger strike on March 21.

Earlier this year, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (SIPCOT) had announced plans to acquire over 2,700 acres of land at Vembur, Ramasamypatti in Ettayapuram and Pattithevanpatti villages of Vilathikulam taluk. However, the public have been opposing the project, and were planning to stage a protest on March 21.

Amid this juncture, a peace meeting, chaired by tahsildar C Suba, was convened with farmers and land owners at Ettayapuram taluk office on Tuesday, but it failed to make progress. Subsequently, the farmers and land owners of Vembur decided to go ahead with the protest and decided to stage a hunger strike at Kandhavel Sithar temple along the Thoothukudi-Madurai National Highways (NH) on March 21.

It may be noted that earlier, the residents of Vembur had sent over 300 post cards mentioning their objections against acquiring land for the SIPCOT project.