A grama panchayat president in Kozhikode has claimed to have received a letter threatening him of dire consequences if he did not back off from leading a protest against the gas pipeline project being implemented by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
‘Political reasons’
Unnikulam grama panchayat president E.T. Binoy told The Hindu on Saturday that the letter alleged that he was obstructing the project, which it claimed, would benefit the entire State, only for political reasons. “You are guided by a lawyer who is advising a committee formed to take forward the protest. The project has reached this far and no one will not be able to pose any challenge to it now,” the letter said. Mr. Binoy has lodged a complaint with the Balussery police station soon after he received the letter on Thursday.
Further, it says, “You have parents and children. You are supposed to live a long life for them. Both [the lawyer and Mr. Binoy] of you will have to take a decision if you are with the project or not. Otherwise, you will have to bear the consequences, this is only an advice.”
Mr. Binoy, however, claimed that the local residents were not opposed to the pipeline, but to how it was being implemented, when it came to land acquisition and the release of compensation. “There is no proper criterion for the land acquisition process, no proper documents either. The officials are marking land as per their whims and fancies,” he alleged. He claimed that only a paltry sum was being offered to the local residents as compensation.
“Only 50% of the share value of the land and the value of the trees such as coconut tree and arecanut tree on the premises are being given as compensation. This is far below the original land value,” he said. Mr. Binoy said the worst affected were those with only 10 cents or five cents of land. “What will those people do for a living if their land is acquired? They should at least be given money to purchase land elsewhere,” he said.
Work stopped
The work on the project has been stopped in the panchayat for the past one month following people’s protest. Mr. Binoy, a Congress activist, claimed that he had the support of all the political parties. Pipes will be laid for around 80 km in Kozhikode district as part of the GAIL Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangaluru project. Meanwhile, sources in the Balussery police station said the complaint had been referred to the local court before registering a case as the offence was non-cognizable.