Urging the Centre to halt all the works related to Irugur (Coimbatore) – Devangonthi (Karnataka) Petroleum and Petroleum Product Pipeline (IDPL) project, farmers affected by the project have planned to begin indefinite protest in six districts from September 15.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited has proposed to lay 249-km pipelines through farm lands in the districts of Tiruppur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri that have a capacity to carry 3.50 million ton per annum petroleum products from Irugur to Devangonthi. The project, approved in November 2012 at ₹ 678 crore, was scheduled to be completed by October 2021.
But the farmers affected by the project in six districts had formed a federation with A.M. Munusamy as its coordinator who held a meeting with office-bearers through video conference recently. The farmers said the State government along with IDPL officials was involved in soil testing and surveying the lands at Dharmapuri and Tiruppur without the permission of farmers.
“We were demanding laying pipelines along the road which the former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had also insisted,” they added. But the project cost was increased to ₹ 1,472 crore and the completion period was extended to November 2022.
Urging the State government to clearly explain its stand, the farmers would begin protest on September 15 in the six districts, they added.
