SDPI drive against GAIL pipeline

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) is launching a 20-day campaign against what it calls the “betrayal of the people by the ruling and Opposition parties in the State and at the Centre” on the laying of the gas pipeline by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).

SDPI district general secretary Najeeb Atholi told the media here on Tuesday that documentaries would be screened and a vehicle jatha would be taken out in all grama panchayats in the Malappuram and Kozhikode districts through which the pipeline passed.

Marches would be taken out to the offices of the MPs and MLAs in these districts.

He claimed that both the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front had not paid attention to the demand to lay the pipeline through the sea to link it to Mangaluru.

Security aspects

Sections 7A, 7B, and 7C of the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines Act, 1962, barred the laying of pipelines through thickly populated areas and public places frequented by people for religious and social gatherings. Mr. Najeeb said efforts were on to sideline the security aspects and confine the issue to a dispute over the compensation of land being acquired for the project.