Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) youth wing president Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday claimed that the Centre had planned to acquire nearly 57,000 acres of land across 45 villages in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts to create a petrochemical investment hub and that the State had agreed to the proposal.
In a statement, Dr. Anbumani said that the proposal included drilling of 110 oil wells, 24 hydrocarbon projects from Velankanni to Marakkanam, and oil processing facilities across 600 acres in the region.
Dr. Anbumani claimed that the Tamil Nadu government had agreed to a proposal to acquire 112 acres of land in 17 places in Pazhaiyapalayam, Agaravattam, Edamanal and Tirunagari for GAIL to lay a new 29 km pipeline from Madanam to Memathoor.
‘Farmlands will be hit’
“This will affect more than 30,000 acres of agricultural land. Despite an earlier promise of this project being dropped after protests by farmers, GAIL and ONGC are now going ahead with it,” he said.
The PMK leader said the State government should stop acquiring land for the projects and should not allow them to be implemented. If the Tamil Nadu government failed to do so, the PMK will stage protests across the State, Mr. Anbumani said.
