Farmers of villages around Shoolagiri led by Kolathur Mani, founder of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, staged a protest against the proposed land acquisition for SIPCOT in Shoolagiri by filing petitions under the Right to Information Act en masse here on Monday.
The farmers under the banner of Nila Urimai Meetpu Iyakkam of Alasebam village in Ayarnapalli panchayat arrived at the Collectorate and filed petitions under the Right to Information Act seeking details on the land acquisition for a project they were yet to hear about directly from the authorities, while survey of lands was allegedly under way.
Mr. Mani told The Hindu there was a proposed acquisition plan for 3,024 acre for SIPCOT. The Special Tahsildar to land acquisition had written to the sub-registrar for guideline value of lands in and around Udhanapalli and Shoolagiri.
“The letter has also cited another letter by the district administration and the SIPCOT’s managing director of the need for lands for SIPCOT. However, farmers had no idea their lands were up for acquisition. No EIA (Environment Impact Assessment), Social Impact Assessment and public hearing was carried out,” Mr. Mani said.
Further, the farmers also petitioned against any SIPCOT on their lands that were under cultivation for generations.
According to Mr. Kolathur Mani, there are hundreds of acres acquired and unused for various SIPCOTs. There are areas that have unproductive and low value lands, where such projects could be established.
All the farmers whose lands will potentially fall along the proposed project alignment are horticultural farmers, who will stand to use both highly productive lands by growing vegetables and flowers, and also build houses on those lands.
“Dry lands were given in Pochampalli for industry. But Shoolagiri has rich cultivable lands, with farmers with marginal holdings of 2 acres dispossessed,” Mr. Mani said.
Later, a group of farmers led by Mr. Kolathur Mani met the Collector. “The Collector told us that there is only preliminary scouting of lands at present and the farmers may represent to the government,” he said.