MK Stalin assures long-term solution to HT towers issue affecting farmers
Coimbatore: Campaigning for the DMK senior and former minister Pongalur Palanisamy for the May 19 Assembly bypoll from Sulur, the DMK president, M.K. Stalin assured farmers of the area that a long-term solution will be found to the issue of erecting high-tension (HT) electricity cable towers over arable farmlands that was detrimental to agriculture including coconut farmers.
Speaking at several roadside meetings, house-to-house campaigns and at an interaction with farmers of the area in Sulur constituency including places like Pappanpatti, Senjerimalai and Sultanpet union, Stalin said the DMK, if re-elected to power, was committed to finding a durable solution to the problem of HT towers erected by the Power Grid Corporation of India which has been agitating the farmers for a year now.
“After coming back to power, DMK will ensure that no arable agriculture land is affected, either by erection of HT towers or by schemes like the Salem-Chennai expressway project,” Stalin told his farmers audience. “Either the HT cables should be laid below the ground level or their alignment should be changed so that cultivable lands were not affected,” Mr. Stalin said, adding, the DMK has taken a considered view on this issue and will seek to implement it.
Accusing the AIADMK government of taking “unilateral decisions” on such livelihood issues affecting farmers, whether it was the HT towers issue or the Salem-Chennai Expressway, Mr. Stalin said farmers had to go to jail to protect their interests; and luckily the land acquisition has been stopped, thanks to the intervention of the Madras High Court recently. “But this Edappadi government is least bothered about anything, either the people or the state,” Stalin said taking a dig at the AIADMK being only a facilitator for the political interests of the BJP.
Referring to reports coming from different parts of the country at the end of the fifth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha polls on Monday evening, Stalin said, “it appears that the elections as a whole is not going in favour of Mr. Narendra Modi.”
“Even where the BJP has been popular in North India, the party is facing a reversal this time and all reports point to a change that is coming; in Tamil Nadu also that change will definitely come,” the DMK leader said, urging the electorate to vote for his party candidates in the May 19 by-elections also.
Mr. Stalin also welcomed the Supreme Court's relief to the three MLAs' who faced disqualification. Observing that the Speaker could not take any decision now as the DMK had given notice for a no-confidence motion, Mr Stalin said the Apex court would also reopen only in July after summer vacation.
“By June 3 this year, Kalaignar's birth anniversary, we can expect a change of government both at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.
On issues specific to Sulur constituency, Stalin said as part of the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) framework, the clean-up and recycling of water in Noyyal and Upparu will be taken up and the surplus water from them fed into local ponds that would help recharge groundwater for agriculture operations. The problems of the farmers including coconut growers in Sultanpet union, which has a unique history of its own, will be redressed, the DMK president assured. The Anaimalaiaaru-Nallaru scheme under PAP framework would help make 2.50 tmcft of water for agriculture operations in Sultanpet union, he underscored.
The 'Arunthathiyar' (Dalits) in the constituency had mentioned several issues to him during his door-to-door campaign, Stalin said. They would be redressed when DMK came back to power including construction of community centres in every Dalit colony as requested by them, jobs for Dalit youths and a house for every poor Dalit family. Mr Stalin also referred to the DMK party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, which focused on generating employment for youth, loan waivers, loan assistance to rural women, tackling poverty and water scarcity, besides measures to stimulate the economy.
