PUDUKOTTAI: Villagers of Vadakadu, about six km from Neduvasal in Pudukottai district, and Nallandarkollai a nearby village, continued their stir on Sunday protesting against the proposed exploration of hydrocarbon project. Divided into batches, they intensified their stir, with each batch launching a unique stir.
One of the batches tied black flags to the horns of bullocks and went by the bullockcarts all around Vadakadu. Another group of farmers, mostly jack fruit cultivators and paddy growers, tonsured their head as a mark of protest against the Centre's 'silence' over the project.
A large number of women took out a procession carrying placards and flex boards urging the Centre to immediately withdraw the proposed exploration.
Another batch of men came with a begging bowl, marking their protest. The farmers said that Vadakadu was one of the fertile areas irrigated by the Grand Anicut Canal. Showing the fully-grown groundnut, they said that the agricultural activity would be doomed, if the Centre permitted the hydrocarbon project.
They also adopted a resolution urging the grama sabha to adopt resolutions against the proposal. They wanted the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy to adopt a resolution in the Assembly against the hydrocarbon project and also for declaring the Cauvery delta as an Agriculture-Protected Zone so that that problems did not recur in future.
