Salem: Hundreds of farmers from western districts on Monday held up vehicular traffic here as they went in a procession to the Salem collectorate to express their opposition to the proposed petroleum products pipeline to be implemented by the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) between Bengaluru-Devanakondhi and Irgur in Coimbatore district.
The agitating farmers fear that laying the pipelines across agriculture fields in seven western districts including Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, could ruin their livelihoods, impose unreasonable restrictions on the use of their farm lands and pose ecological hazards.
The farmers, led by Tamil Nadu Vivasayeegal Sangam district president Ramamurthy and DMK farmers’ wing joint secretary, Kaveri, explained that instead BPCL and IDPL should lay the pipelines alongside the national highway between Bengaluru and Coimbatore and not intrude into farm lands.
Farmers would not be able to undertake any supplementary on-farm activity if the pipelines crisscrossed their agriculture fields and BPCL claiming ownership, they said, and urged that BPCL should give up its petro-products pipeline project as conceived now.
Chief Minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami should go by his predecessor J Jyalalithaa’s decision in 2013 with respect to GAIL pipeline project when she refused permission to laying pipelines across farmers fields, they pointed out and later gave a memorandum to Salem collector, Mr. C A Raman.
