Modi keen on gas pipeline project through Tamil Nadu
This is not the first time that the BJP Government at the Centre is trying to revive a project that was opposed by Jayalalithaa.
CHENNAI: With J.Jayalalithaa who vociferously opposed the project having passed away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be quite keen now on implementing the stalled gas pipeline project from Kochi to Bengaluru that would pass through fertile lands in Tamil Nadu.
During a review meeting of the ambitious 950-km gas pipeline project in New Delhi, Modi is understood to have asked officials from Tamil Nadu to come out with innovative ways and ideas to convince farmers who are opposing the project on the grounds that it would adversely affect their farmland.
Sources said Modi also suggested taking some of the protesting farmers on an “onsite visit” to educate them that laying of the pipeline underground would not affect their lands in anyway. The project was stalled in Tamil Nadu after the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa asked the Union Government in 2016 to rescind the Rs 3,ooo crore project which is to be completed by 2018.
Officials, who closely oversee the projects, said the Prime Minister is “quite keen” on implementing the project and complete it by the end of next year and has asked the Tamil Nadu Government to ensure that farmers cooperate with GAIL and other agencies concerned.
Farmers in Salem, Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts have been up in arms against the project for the past few years as they feel their farmland would be adversely affected if the gas pipeline project is implemented. The farmers' protests led Jayalalithaa to declare that she will not allow the project to be implemented despite the state government's plea to realign the pipeline route was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Reacting to Modi's keen interest in implementing the project, farmers association in Erode said they would soon call a meeting of all outfits, which have been fighting against the project and discuss the next course of action.
This is not the first time that the BJP Government at the Centre is trying to revive a project that was opposed by Jayalalithaa. Last year, the Union Government forced the state government to approve the expressway connecting Maduravoyal with Chennai Port.