Farmers flay power transmission project

Coimbatore: Farmers in the district on Tuesday prevented Power Grid Corporation of India officials from conducting land survey at Semmandampalayam and Karumathampatti areas here for installation of high-voltage transmission towers.
The survey was earlier stopped due to the general elections. On Tuesday, officials resumed the survey in agricultural fields at Semmandampalayam and Karumathampatti with the help of police personnel.
When a team of officials were conducting the survey near ARC school premises at Karumathampatti, land owners staged sit-in. However, police removed them forcibly and arrested them.
Six farmers from Semmandampalayam, meanwhile, climbed on a high-voltage transmission tower and threatened to jump down if the officials were to go ahead with the survey. They came down only after seven hours of protest.
The officials tried to pacify the farmers, who told them that they wanted to lay the cables underground, instead of erecting the towers in their agricultural fields.
The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Ltd are planning to erect high-voltage towers on agriculture lands in 13 districts.TNN