Tension in Thanjai as ryots stop IOC team

Tension prevailed in Thanjavur on Friday when farmers in the district confronted officials from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) who had reportedly arrived to carry out works pertaining to the pipeline laying project extending from the Narimanam refinery in Nagapattinam district.

According to sources, IOC has been carrying out a pipeline project stretching over a distance of 116 kilometres from the Narimanam refinery to Thanjavur, and work had been completed on a 68-km stretch up to Ammapettai in Thanjavur. When pipes were being laid along cultivable lands in Soorakkottai, farmers there opposed it and even staged a series of protests demanding to remove the pipes that were stocked up for the project.

Subsequently, work was suspended and the officials took away the pipes from Soorakkottai, sources said.

Meanwhile, the IOC officials led by general manager (GM) Yovan Kumar arrived at Soorakkottai and held talks with the agitating farmers on Friday.

However, the latter along with the public, besieged the officials and demanded them to withdraw the project, sources said. The farmers then demanded the officials to not have the pipelines laid along cultivable lands, but over the roads. They also stressed that the quality of the soil was being affected due to the works and that ground water also would be hit.

Reacting to the protesters’ demands, Yovan said that agricultural activities would not be affected by the pipelines and attempted to pacify them.

However, the farmers continued to raise slogans and demanded the officials to withdraw the project.

As the peace talks failed, officials left the spot without arriving at a decision on the row, sources said.

Later speaking to reporters, the GM claimed that out of the pipelines laid across the country by IOC, 14,000 locations were along agricultural lands and that no land had become barren. Besides, the pipes of eight-inch diameter were being laid at a depth of six feet which would not create a problem for farming activities, Yovan said.

“We have still assured compensation to those [landowners] whose lands were affected by pipes carrying gas. The protest is due to poor understanding of the issue,” Yovan said.