PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday alleged that Agricultural Minister and Cuddalore’s DMK bigwig M.R.K. Panneerselvam and the Collector were acting as agents number one and two in the land acquisition for NLC India Limited.
Mr. Anbumani, who was detained by the police after a protest in Neyveli and released later, told The Hindu that NLCIL was “100 times more dangerous and polluting than the Sterlite copper plant.” According to him, it was hypocritical of the State government to create a climate policy by which 50% of the State’s power would be generated from renewable sources, while using thousands of policemen to forcibly acquire fertile land from farmers to mine lignite. He said lignite was the “worst form of fossil fuel” available as it is “pre-coal”.
“NLCIL contributes just 800 MW to Tamil Nadu, which is a power- surplus State. Why can’t NLC import coal instead of mining the inefficient lignite? The PMK has always been in the forefront on farmers’ issues, instrumental in creating the protected agricultural zone and safeguarding rivers and championing irrigation projects,” he said.
“NLCIL is not a development project, but a destructive project,” Mr. Anbumani said, making a distinction between the airport being planned in Parandur, near Chennai, and the land acquisition for NLCIL. “In the airport issue, no land is being destroyed as in Cuddalore by NLCIL.”
He rejected the argument that the land being taken over in Neyveli was acquired long ago. “We have the example of the NLC project at Jayamkondam where the land acquired 25 years ago (around 3390 hectares for the 1,600-MW Jayankondam integrated lignite mining and power generation project) was given back to the owners. Why can’t they do the same here? In fact, any land acquired should be used for the said purpose within five years. The land should be returned to farmers in Cuddalore district as well,” he said.
The PMK leader added that the support extended by the ruling DMK to the NLCIL remained a ‘million dollar’ question despite Chief Minister M.K. Stalin calling himself a ‘Delta kaaran’ (the man from the fertile Cauvery delta region) and opposing the project before coming to power.
