Farmers oppose move to seek urgent hearing in eight-way lane case

The 272.3 km controversial Chennai-Salem Green Corridor that is envisaged to run through fertile agriculture lands, forests and mountains is back at the centre stage.

Farmers are up in arms yet again demonstrating their resolve to fight the Union Government as National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent hearing of its appeal against the April 2019 Madras High Court order quashing the land acquisition process for the Rs 7,200 crore project.

Several farmers in villages that will lose their fertile lands if the project sees the light of the day cutting across districts have come onto the streets to protest against the Centre’s decision to seek an urgent hearing “even during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The NHAI had on June 4 moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent hearing of the case. During the course of the hearing last year, the apex court had refused to stay the High Court order striking down the acquisition process.

And the Tamil Nadu government, which had made a volte-face on the issue during the 2019 elections and changed its stand after the poll ended, came in support of the project yet again with two ministers making it clear that the highway was indeed the need of the hour.

The farmers, who are protesting in a group of less than ten persons in their respective villages due to Section 144 being in force, sought to know why the government is “hell bent” on 'destroying' fertile lands to build a highway while one of the existing three highways that connect the two cities can be expanded and upgraded.

“We really do not understand the need to seek an urgent hearing at a time the country is reeling under COVID-19 crisis. What is the need for such a project now? This is the time for the government to increase agriculture production and encourage more people to take up farming and increase farmers’ income instead of taking away their lands forcibly,” Arul Arumugam of the Movement Against Eight-Way Lane told DH.

The ambitious project that seeks to cut down the travel time between Chennai and Salem in western Tamil Nadu by three hours and distance by 68 km ran into rough weather immediately after it was announced in the first half of 2018. Farmers in Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, and Kanchipuram were vociferous in their opposition to the project, which they feel would not just wipe out agriculture in the region but also lead to greenery being affected big-time by cutting down of lakhs of trees.

Mohana Sundaram, a farmer from Pulaveri in Salem district and one of the petitioners in the case against the project in the Madras High Court, asked where would the government get funds to build the highway when it is seeking contributions from the public to fight Covid-19.

“We don’t understand the motive of the government. On one hand, it asks for money from the public to fight Covid-19 and on the other hand it wants to implement a project that costs Rs 7,200 crore with urgency. This highway is unnecessary and unwarranted. The government should reconsider its decision,” Mohana Sundaram said.

Arumugam said the farmers are determined not to part with their lands. “Why should we give away our land? The matter is in the court and we will fight legally. But why are the ministers behaving like judges saying the project will be implemented?” he asked.

A field visit by this DH correspondent to 16 villages spread across Salem, Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai districts in September 2018 had established that the highway has been designed in such a way that it passes through the middle of fertile farmlands, rendering remaining land on both sides useless.

In total, nearly 150 villages will be affected, and hundreds of acres of coconut, betel nut, banana, and mango plantations would face the axe if the farmlands are acquired for the project.

After their protests failed to move the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre, the farmers knocked at the Madras High Court seeking justice. PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss was also party to the case as he sought quashing of the move on land acquisition for the project.

The High Court in April 2019, in the midst of the high-octane Lok Sabha poll battle, struck down the land acquisition process and opined that a “more thorough study” was required for a “sensitive project” like the green highway.