Ryots oppose new Salem expressway

Dharmapuri: The district police sensing an unlikely twist as in the anti-sterlite protests in Thoothukudi recently, have intensified the security arrangements across Dharmapuri in the wake of a farmers march to petition the Dharmapuri district collector against the new Salem-Chennai green corridor expressway project. Luckily, the protest passed off peacefully.

“The police bandobust was heightened as a preventive measure. This was done to avoid the mass gathering as planned by the farmers to petition the collector,” a police officer on anonymity told DC.

In Harur, tension prevailed for a while near a state-run Tarmac wine shop on Harur-Kadathur road after the police stopped the farmers group from proceeding towards Dharmapuri.

Then, they were allowed to go because the farmers informed the police that they would resort to a ‘road roko’ alleging police atrocity, when the farmers were in fact protesting peacefully.

A “petition the collector” march was called by the farmers who are not interested to give their land for developing the newly announced green corridor to be laid at the cost of Rs. 10,000 crore and covers a distance of 273 kilometers from Chennai to Salem.

The grand road project involving extensive deforestation and even cutting through mineral-rich hills in Tiruvannamalai district en route, would cover 53 kilometers in Dharmapuri district through 22 villages in Harur and Pappireddipatti taluks, which according to the farmers here would affect their livelihood if their lands were taken for the road project.