The coordination of GAIL victims’ forums have said that the protest of landholders against the proposed gas pipeline project is hardly against the gas pipeline project, but the irresponsible way of implementing it by flouting all safety standards and without sticking to the legal ways to access the RoU (right of use).
At a meet-the-press programme here, they alleged that GAIL was continuing with the work without ensuring any transparency in its proceedings.
‘Inadequate package’
V.P. Pradeepkumar, legal adviser to the forums, said the RoU was literally restricting the freedom of small-scale landholders without assuring them any reasonable compensation package. No proper notification through the media or village-level communication on RoU was issued to the landholders in Kozhikode to carry out the pipe-laying work through the legal channel,” he said.
Mr. Pradeepkumar accused GAIL of flouting many other mandatory procedures to be followed while undertaking such a multi-crore and risky venture in thickly populated areas. The whole issue could have been settled if it had considered an alternative alignment for a stretch of 79 km of the identified project area, he said.
The forum leaders said that GAIL, being a public sector enterprise, should have shown more responsibility in completing a venture that was handling high-pressure gas supply with numerous security risks. It should have properly conducted a field-level study on population density to avoid risky regions from the project area, he said.
GAIL’s approach of challenging everything in a court to complete the project was not at a people-friendly move suitable for a public-sector company, he said.