Ryots protest Edappadi Palaniswami’s Salem expressway comment

Salem: Hundreds of farmers in and around Salem came out on the roads for the second day on Tuesday to protest the Chief Minister Mr Edappadi K Palaniswami's latest remarks on the controversial Salem-Chennai eight-lane expressway, indicating the project would be implemented in 'national interest'.

Condemning the Chief Minister's flip-flop, farmers including women of agriculture households in areas like Ramalingapuram gathered on fields with black flags and raised slogans against Mr. Palaniswami changing track on the project after the Lok Sabha elections.

The farmers were aghast at the Chief Minister's volte-face on the issue, stating that he had before the April 18 Lok Sabha elections said no scheme affecting farmers interests will be implemented in Tamil Nadu, but now had said here on Monday that the expressway project was needed and that farmers should voluntarily relinquish their lands for the project and take good compensation.

"This only shows the double face of the Chief Minister towards this project," said a farmers' representative and urged him to stop the disinformation campaign regarding the proposed project details. The eight-lane project will "eat away" into thousands of acres of arable land and Chief Minister should not be spreading wrong information about the project, they urged. If the government continued with its 'dual stance' on the project, "we will rally farmers from all over the state and intensify our agitation," they added. Ends.