Four-lane ECR: Villagers up in arms

Residents from around ten villages in Mayiladuthurai in Nagapattinam district on Saturday staged an indefinite protest against the acquisition of land for the four-lane project of the ECR and demanded that the acquisition of agricultural lands for the same be stopped.

Works for the four-lane expansion of the ECR from Kanniyakumari to Chennai has been under progress for the past few months. As part of the project, land acquisition in the 56-km stretch from Porayar to Kollidam is under way. While a part of the acquisition is almost complete, residents in and around Sirkazhi and Porayar have been opposing it as they would lose their agricultural lands as well as their houses.

The residents of Mamakudi, Athur, Kathiruppu, Thaachankadu and Karuvilanthapuram villages have, meanwhile, commenced their protest against the land acquisition. They rued that they have to even spare their newly-built houses for the project and that the government has announced too less a compensation than the minimum price.

Subsequently, the residents of the ten villages-that come under the ambit of the project-who formed a federation for affected farmers and land owners, announced an indefinte protest on June 29. Subsequently, Mayiladuthurai RDO Kanmani met the residents on Friday evening and held talks with them in the presence of DSP Vellaidurai. According to sources, the suggestions put forth by the officials were not satisfactory to the residents and hence the peace talks concluded without a solution. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the residents commenced their indefinite protest as per schedule. Residents, farmers and others participated in large numbers.

The participants said that they would continue their protest until the government withdraws the land acquisition for the NH-45A expansion. They claimed that they were being threatened of cases being filed against them for the protests. They also said that the officials have been conspiring to divide the people with false promises, but added that the protest would continue until they achieved their goal.