MADURAI
A section of farmers, who are to lose land for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)’s ₹700-crore four-lane road from Thathampatti to Manthikulam here, has sought the Collector’s intervention to suspend acquisition during cultivation season.
With the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court vacating interim stay on the project, NHAI has begun the acquisition process.
Farmers of the Pennycuick Double Crop Farmers and Water Sources Protection Association, who have fertile stretches of double-crop land irrigated by the Periyar Main Canal, said that following water release from Vaigai dam most of the farmers had already begun farm activities. With Friday’s rainfall, president of the association K. Swaminathan said that the activities would only quicken up.
“We have appealed to Collector T. S. Rajasekar to stop further acquisition of land until cultivation season gets over to ensure that we can peacefully complete the process of harvesting. The Collector has forwarded our request to NHAI,” he said.
Project Director, NHAI, V. Saravanan, said that they had begun the process of partially paying out compensation for acquired land by depositing the money in the landowners’accounts.
“We are also trying to finalise the date to commence the project,” he said.
C. Pugazhendhi of Manthikulam, whose family’s nine cents of land and house are being marked for acquisition, said that farmers shuld be allowed to continue with cultivation this season.
“For generations, people in this area, Madurai’s greenest belt, have been cultivating paddy. NHAI is not considering this fact,” he said.
The farmers’ association and officials of NHAI said that they were awaiting court’s direction to decide their future course of action.
