Opposing the move to draw water from a farm land near Gunderipallam Reservoir and supply it to farm lands located 6 km away, people of many villages staged a road blockade at Vinoba Nagar at T.N. Palayam here on Thursday.
A borewell was drilled at a land belonging to Thangavel near the reservoir that comes under Kongarpalayam panchayat.
It was proposed to supply water through a 6 km pipeline to lands owned by Murugesan, Andamuthu, Eswaran, Chellappan and Rani.
Two years ago, pipelines were laid for 4.5 km while it was not laid for 1.5 km due to stiff opposition from the villagers. People said that if water from the borewell is drawn and utilised for farm lands located in another area, groundwater would be affected in the villages of Vinobanagar, Kongarpalayam and Vaniputhur and wanted the project to be dropped. The project was halted for two years.
All the five land owners approached the court and obtained orders for laying pipelines and also wanted police protection to be given for the work.
On Thursday, over 300 police personnel, led by Additional Superintendent of Police Janagiraman, four Deputy Superintendents of Police and 12 inspectors, were posted at the panchayat to execute the pipeline laying work.
Over 250 people blocked the road at Vinobanagar disrupting the flow of vehicles. Gobichettipalayam DSP, Revenue Divisional Officer Palanidevi, and Tahsildar Thiyagaraj held talks with the protestors. Villagers sought 15 days time to approach the court and obtain a stay order for the work. They also wanted works to be stopped during the intervening period. Officials assured them that works will not be taken up after which the protest was withdrawn.
