Rejecting the compensation package of the State government, the anti-GAIL gas pipeline action committee resumed its agitation at Eranhimavu, near Mukkom, in the district on Thursday. The action committee leaders who rebuilt the pandal that was dismantled by the police on November 1 proclaimed their second phase of agitation.
Incidentally, defying the official stance of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran inaugurated the protest. The area had witnessed violence following a clash between the protesters and the police and the government had worked out a rehabilitation package with the GAIL authorities for the families whose land or buildings would be lost to the project.
Sudheeran’s support
Addressing the protesters, Mr. Sudheeran said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan owed an explanation on the atrocities committed by the police against the anti-GAIL protesters. It was not the victims but the government that had violated the laws by failing to follow the basic rules while implementing the project, he added.
Stressing that the people were not against development projects, he said local people had the right to protest when their livelihood mattered. The onus was on the government to clear the anxieties of the victims about the pipeline construction, Mr. Sudheeran said.
The action committee leaders also announced that a convention of all local groups agitating against the GAIL gas pipeline project would be held in Kozhikode on Saturday. This was to coordinate the protests at the State level. However, unlike earlier, the protests would be held in a peaceful manner without resorting to blocking the ongoing works, including felling of trees for laying the pipes, they said.
Key demands not met
The government and GAIL authorities had not considered two key demands such as shifting the existing alignment from densely populated regions and hiking the prices of land to be acquired to four times the market rate, they said.
A meeting chaired by Industries Minister A.C. Moideen in Kozhikode had decided to offer 50% of the fair price in accordance with the Petroleum and Minerals Pipe Line (Acquisition of Right of Users in Land) Act. Later the government revised the compensation at five times the fair value of the land. However, GAIL and the government had taken a position not to change the alignment that had been approved several years ago.
