Farmers, activists claim Rs 11,000-crore expressway will destroy forests and displace nearly 40,000 families.
Bengaluru: A mega expressway in Tamil Nadu, a part of union highways minister Nitin Gadkari’s pet project Bharatmala Pariyojana, has become the newest site for public protests in the state.
Barely a month ago, the Tamil Nadu government was facing massive protests in Thoothukudi where local residents and environmentalists were demonstrating against Vedanta’s sterlite copper unit. Ten people were killed in police firing during the protests and the AIADMK government ordered the plant closed.
Now, nearly 400 km away, local farmers and environmentalists are now up in arms against the proposed eight-lane Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway, claiming that the Rs 11,000-crore project will not only destroy portions of reserve forests in the region, but also displace nearly 40,000 families.
“They are actually destroying us and our environment in the name of a greenfield project,” said Arumugam, a farmer from Salem district whose was visited by revenue officers a few days ago.
But the local administration said these famers are getting swayed by “fly-by-night” campaigners.
“Only a small section is involved in the protests, but we are in direct contact with the landowners and offering them relief and rehabilitation packages,” Salem district collector Rohini Bhajibhakare told ThePrint.
“The landowners were supportive once these packages were explained to them. We have been conducting meetings as per the statutory guidelines in the NHAI Land acquisition Act,” Bhajibhakare said.
Inadequate compensation
Sundar Rajan, coordinator of NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal that took part in the Kudankulam project protests as well, has alleged that the farmers are being cheated as the compensation for the land acquired varies from the one given by the state government.
“If a family has three acres of land and the highway is built through the centre of this piece of land, then close to one acre of the land will be acquired,” he said.
“So the government will pay only for the one acre that has been used, but the family will lose three acres. Who will compensate for these losses,” Rajan asked.
District collector Rohini said this allegation was unfounded.
“There are procurement norms laid down in the NHAI Act…we would like to make it clear that if there is one acre of land and if the guideline value is Rs 4 lakh, we will give them almost three times the guideline value, which sometimes works out to be more than the market value,” the official said.
Environmental concerns
Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy, who belongs to Salem, seems determined about the project. Earlier this month, he said in the state assembly that the project passes through just 9.9 km of forest land and does not pose any major environmental risk.
The corridor will be realigned in such a way that it will not affect the highly sensitive ecological zone, the CM told in the assembly.
The activists, however, are unconvinced. A federation of 15 organisations, including farmers’ associations, green NGOs, political parties and legal experts has called a ‘black flag’ protest on 26 June against the government’s move.
“We have assessed the possible damage that could be caused by this project. If they (government) go according to the plan, nearly 700 wells will be closed,” said S. Shanmugham, state secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha.
The project will create a huge problem given most of the farmers in the area depend on groundwater to irrigate their fields, Shanmugham argued.
Feasibility report draws flak
The Tamil Nadu government had entrusted a consultancy firm, Feedback Infra Private Limited, to submit a report on the socio-economic impact of the project.
However, to the surprise of many, the report has drawn a parallel between a road in Xi’an in China and the proposed expressway besides talking about how people in the area have been advised on prevention of HIV/AIDS.
“The feasibility report is a complete joke,” said environmental activist Nityanand Jayaram.
“Under the public consultation section, they have said that they briefed the people on HIV and how to prevent it. How does that help with the eight-lane expressway project?” he asked.
“People want to know how much land has been lost and how it would affect the hydrology, not this (HIV counselling),” Jayaram added.
Gadkari’s pet project
The Bharatmala Project, a pet project of union highways minister Nitin Gadkari, is aimed at improving connectivity between states and far-flung areas by creating economic corridors.
The project in Tamil Nadu will be an access-controlled 277.3 km highway stretching from Chennai to Salem, passing through major towns such as Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.
The feasibility report claims that the travel time from Chennai to Salem can be reduced by three hours. It says transportation costs can be reduced by 15 to 20 per cent with the express highway.
Nobody asked this project in Tamilnadu. If Gadkari likes to have it, then TN is not a place. He can go any where. Already TN is having water problem and if they destroy forest on the name of development, it will become another vidarbha or kalakandi.
Devadasan- What are you talking about the highway giving connectivity to villages. In fact the opposite is happening they are destroying so many villages and many people’s livelihood to build this highway. So instead of saying that this highway connecting villages I would say it connecting cities over the villages as in ‘burying down the villages, it’s people and their livelihood in it’.
Vijaya What a truthful responce
Devadasan, I want to throw you into a volcano.
Agitations against the Koodankulam project were financed by foreign powers and the same stupids are behind these agitations also. All these fellows should be thrown to the sea. This highway gives connectivity to so many villages.