Salem: Taking recourse to a time-tested-yet-novel method in today's circumstance to bring “moral pressure” on the state government to dissuade it from acquiring farm lands for the proposed eight-lane Salem-Chennai Expressway project, villagers of Keeripatti near here performed a special ‘pooja’ at their local Mariamman temple.
Making the protest unobjectionable as it is rooted in native customs, about 100 villagers came up with a piece of smart action in gathering near the Goddess Angala Parameshwari Periyandichi Amman temple in their village on Friday, performed a ‘special pooja’ to appease their time-honoured deity and at the end of it “submitted” a petition to the Deity to save their lands from being acquired for the controversial Rs 10,000 crore ‘green corridor’ project.
This novel form of protest has come in the backdrop of the survey for land acquisition done for the Salem to Chennai expressway project having been completed recently in Salem district. Land and for about 36.30 kilometres is to be acquired in the district of the total 277 kilometres making up the expressway.
Farmers have been already conducting various kinds of agitations against the project and yet the land survey was completed amid their protest.
A local villager, Narayanan, said, “four acres of my land was surveyed to be acquired for the green corridor project. About 400 coconut trees would be affected in my land. Similarly, many farmers in our village would be affected if lands were to be acquired. Farming in our village would be affected completely.”
Narayanan explained that as none of the government officials and the State government in Chennai considered “our demand” to give up the land acquisition for the controversial project, “we decided to seek divine help to protect our lands.’
