The GAIL Gas Pipeline Resistance Committee of Kottur panchayat has decided to step up the agitation against the gas pipeline to be laid by Gas Authority of India through residential areas.
In a press release, the committee said the proposed pipeline would pass through villages such as Kottur and Avitanallur, causing irreparable damage to the ecology of the area. Wetlands, paddy fields and agriculture fields on hundreds of hectares of land would be destroyed. There had been no environmental impact study or social impact study on the project so far, the committee functionaries claimed.
They alleged that land had been acquired without serving notices to the land owners, who would not be allowed to lodge their complaints without a copy of the notification. They would not be allowed to do any activity on the acquired land. The local village office or grama panchayats too had not been taken into confidence. Liquefied natural gas for industrial use would be taken through the pipeline, not liquefied petroleum gas, as claimed by the authorities, they added.