Farmers of Cumbur near Karungalakudi in the district on Thursday chased away contractors who came for digging trenches to lay underground gas pipeline for Indian Oil Corporation.
The farmers claimed that the men who came with an earthmover started to dug out farmlands with fully-grown paddy crop.
“They claimed that they have got permission from the farmers to lay the second pipeline along the farmlands where another pipeline had already been laid years back,” said Chinnathambi, a farmer.
However, a member of the trench-digging team, Saravanan, said that the IOCL was only trying to dig a trench on the land it had already acquired in the past. The existing pipeline was used for transporting diesel.
Another farmer, A. Kumar (30), said that after issuing notice 20 days back, the team came to cut the trench without the farmers’ consent.
The IOCL had already promised to pay compensation for the crop that would be damaged for laying the new pipeline.
“In the past, our elders did not know the threat about the underground pipeline. But, we are now aware of it as gas line could be a threat for generations to come,” Mr. Kumar claimed.
He claimed that the Cumbur panchayat had passed resolutions several times in the last two years denying permission for laying gas pipeline through their village.
However, the panchayat president, Kathiresan, denied knowledge about any such resolution.
The farmers claimed that they were seeing the paddy crop at flowering stage on the rain-fed fields after several years. “How can they bury the standing crop just days before harvesting?,” Mr. Kumar asked.