As farmers protests continued in Tamil Nadu over the Supreme Court nod for the Gail pipeline passing through farmlands, the state government decided to move a petition challenging the order.
A high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jayalalitha at the state secretariat on Thursday decided to challenge the apex court verdict, with the chief minister reportedly saying that the government should not advance any schemes that hurt people’s interests, especially the farmers.
Jayalalitha also discussed with concerned ministers and secretaries the various aspects of law to be considered in framing the petition. “The petition will be filed very soon after looking into all the legal views,” a senior PWD official seeking anonymity said.
The proposed multi-crore natural gas pipeline runs for over 300 km in Tamil Nadu, covering Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri districts. Farmers from these seven districts agitating over the Supreme Court decision fear they might lose several acres of land.
The previous DMK government inked the agreement to extract natural gas with the Great Eastern Energy Corporation. The former government also allocated Rs 100 crore for the project.
Published 04 February 2016, 19:45 IST