The State government on Monday told the Madras High Court that it was willing to grant time till September 15 for farmers to harvest the standing crops they had raised on lands acquired by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) over a decade ago for its expansion activities, and that the farmers, in turn, should agree to hand over the lands after the moratorium period without creating trouble.
The NLC, on its part, assured the court that it was willing to pay compensation for the standing crops that were cleared using earthmovers for the diversion of the Upper Paravanar canal in Valayamadevi near Chidambaram in order to prevent the flooding of the mines and adjacent lands during the monsoon. It said the compensation would be deposited with the Cuddalore Collector.
The submissions were made before Justice S.M. Subramaniam, who granted a lunch motion to hear an urgent writ petition moved by one of the affected farmers, V. Murugan of Valayamadevi Melpathi village. Petitioner’s counsel K. Balu urged the court to restrain NLC from disturbing the standing crops until harvest, and also return the acquired lands to the farmers since they had not been used for the intended purpose even after 16 years.
