Farmers court arrest while protesting against GAIL pipeline project

Farmers arrested protesting gas pipeline project in Tamil Nadu, demanding to meet Sub-Collector, facing widespread protests.

Farmers, led by the Tamil Nadu Vivasaygal Sangam, were arrested outside the Sub-Collector’s office while protesting against the laying of a gas pipeline by GAIL for a long-opposed gas pipeline project. The protesters were demanding to hand over petitions en masse to the Sub-Collector, but they were denied permission for a mass gathering. Eventually, the protesters, including women, were arrested. The pipelines are cutting through three villages in Hosur, affecting over 25 farmers from Idayanallur, Thoothalam, and Edapalli.

In an interview with The Hindu, C.P. Jayaraman, CPM’s secretary for Hosur, stated that GAIL had started construction in three villages, where the pipeline cuts through a 40 ft wide section of farmland. According to him, farmers had been protesting on the site, but the workers claimed they were contractors hired to work and had no say in the matter. “In Coimbatore and Erode, the pipeline’s trajectory runs along the road and not through farmlands, after various agitations by farmers there. Why should it not be implemented here too without affecting farmers?” says Mr. Jayaraman.

Against this backdrop, protesters led by CPM-affiliated Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam held a protest in front of the Sub-Collector’s office demanding that the administration halt the works. “We were told since the MCC was in force the administation would not do anything and that it was a Central government project. If the MCC was in force, then the works should not be allowed to go on now.” However, the protesters’ request to meet the Sub-Collector as a group was denied, and only a small group was given permission to meet the official, which they refused.

The GAIL pipeline project involves a 294 km gas pipeline from Kerala that passes through 9 districts of Tamil Nadu to transport gas to Karnataka. The project, which was conceived in 2012, has faced widespread protests across the western region of Tamil Nadu. The Hindu attempted to reach the Sub-Collector, but there was no response.