Tirupur: Farmers from Velampatti area have come out against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for destroying an irrigation pond on Avinashipalayam-Avinashi Road to construct a toll gate near Palladam.
NHAI had been conducting work for the Avinashipalayam-Avinashi Road that would connect Salem-Coimbatore and Trichy-Coimbatore national highways at a cost of Rs 167 crore. For constructing a toll gate in Velampatti in North Avinashipalayam panchayat, NHAI authorities filled 70% of the tank with soil, local farmers said.
“The pond was the main water source for irrigation as well as drinking in Velampatti and surrounding villages. More than 100 acres of agricultural lands were depending on it directly and indirectly. We had desilted it spending Rs 10 lakh and it was receiving water from the Parambikulam-Aliyar project irrigation scheme,” former CPI ward councillor of Thonguttipatti panchayat E Jothi Basu told TOI.
“It is unfortunate that while there were ways to construct the toll gate without disturbing the irrigation tank, NHAI did not bother about it,” he added.
K Sathish, a local farmer, requested NHAI not to set up the toll gate on the road as it would affect local farmers. “Hundreds of farmers use the road to transport their produces to the Tirupur farmers’ market. They will be forced to pay toll for transportation vegetables,” he added.
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