Ryots say Raja wrong on Annur industrial park land

COIMBATORE:  The farmers’ struggle committee against Annur industrial park alleged that Nilgiris MP and DMK deputy general secretary A Raja had shared wrong information regarding the issue during his media interaction on Wednesday and announced that it would not give up the protest.

Kumara Ravikumar, one of the coordinators of the struggle committee, said, “Raja said 2,000 acres belonging to private companies are available as a single land parcel, which is not true. A Bengaluru-based company had bought around 1,200 acres in 1996-2000. Of this, 450 acres are under legal dispute. The company wanted to buy over 2,000 acres to establish an industrial estate, but people in the area opposed it. So the firm dropped its plan, and the land was not developed. Also, it’s not a single land parcel.”

Further, Ravikumar said the committee would not take part in any meetings convened by district officials on the issue. “Our only demand is that the project should be withdrawn completely,” he added. Meanwhile, farmers opened temporary offices in each of the 17 villages in Annur and Mettupalayam talks, where 3,731 acres have been earmarked for acquisition. Farmers said they opened temporary offices to monitor government officials and prevent them from meeting villagers to acquire land. Sources said farmers urged police personnel who visited the villages to enter their details in a register. 

Collector GS Sameeran said, “We called for a meeting of all stakeholders on December 13. Ninety-four people from Annur attended it. The SP and I explained to them the GO for Land Acquisition for TIDCO, RFTLAAR Act 2013 provisions and also the intent of the government.” Sources said the participants, however, did not accept the explanation.