A large number of residents and farmers of Neduvasal and its neighbouring villages on Saturday participated in a demonstration in Pudukottai, protesting against the State and Union governments for not shelving the hydrocarbon exploration and extraction project.
People from all walks of life participated in the protest, spearheaded by the Neduvasal Struggle Committee. They arrived in large numbers at the Thadikonda Ayyanar Thidal, where they shouted slogans, braving the scorching sun.
A section of the people of the village have been protesting daily.
A sizeable number of cadre of various political parties, including the DMK, the Congress, the CPI and the CPI (M) thronged the venue. A few AIADMK members also participated. A number of present and former MLAs were present.
Contradictory stand
The protesters contended that although the State government had promised to disallow the project, the Centre had gone ahead with signing the agreement with the private company. The protesters urged the State government to pass a resolution against the project in the current session of the Assembly.
Terming the State government’s promise that environmental clearance would not be given for the project as “mere eyewash”, D. Pushparaj, former MLA, who presided over the demonstration, said the State government had been making promises mainly to weaken the vociferous protest of hundreds of farmers. “It has done nothing concrete to stop the project completely. The struggle would continue until the project is shelved,” he said.
S. Regupathy, DMK MLA, said if the State government was sincere in its promise, it should have passed a resolution against the project in the Assembly. In spite of repeated demands by the Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin and protesters, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had not agreed to it. “I feel the promises of State and Union Ministers on hydrocarbon project are deceptive. There has been no concrete move to stop the project,” said P. Needhi Raja, an AIADMK cadre of Pullanviduthi, who participated in the demonstration.
M. Chellaiah (80) of Pattukottai said that if the project is allowed, it would destroy agriculture and natural resources in Thanjavur and Pudukottai districts.