DMK, PMK on same side on Salem-Chennai expressway

Chennai: With the elections over, some of the alliances may not retain relevance anymore. The poll pact between the ruling AIADMK and the PMK could be under stress, at least on the Chennai-Salem eight-lane expressway project. The PMK, in fact, appears on the same side as the DMK on this mega project that had seen many agitations in the region, particularly by the small and medium farmers who feared loss of livelihood by the government acquiring their lands for the expressway.

Just a day after Narendra Modi, an electoral ally, assumed office as PM for a second term, the PMK has now picked up its red flag to oppose the expressway, the project that has both the BJP Government at the Centre and the AIADMK administration in Tamil Nadu are on the same page.

Former Union minister and PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramadoss  said on Friday that his party would continue its legal struggle against the expressway, which is absolutely irrelevant and unnecessary considering that there are already three highways connecting Chennai and Salem and one national highway was being converted into a four-lane road between Vaniambadi and Salem. Besides, the 277-km expressway would harm the livelihood of over 10,000 farmers, he said.

The PMK statement came amid reports that the AIADMK Government has moved an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court order quashing the land acquisition proceedings for the expressway after holding that it had no environment clearance.

DMK spokesman TKS Elangovan, MP, said the party had already made it clear it was not opposed to the expressway project but was seriously concerned about the plight of the small and medium level farmers losing their lands. The party leader Stalin had made this clear multiple times whereas the AIADMK and BJP Governments were pushing it without addressing the farmers' concerns, Elangovan said.