Minister for Public Works E.V. Velu, who represents the Tiruvannamalai Assembly constituency, on Friday said the majority of the farmers had agreed to the acquisition of their land by SIPCOT in Melma and surrounding villages in the district, while “only a few were being instigated by outsiders to protest”.
He was responding to criticisms against the State government for booking some protesting farmers under the Goondas Act. Addressing the media in Tiruvannamalai, he said that while about 1,200 acres of land was being acquired for SIPCOT from over 1,800 farmers, only around 240 farmers had objected to the acquisition. The farmers were being paid 2.5 times the market price for their land, he added.
He particularly blamed a person from Krishnagiri district for instigating the farmers and claimed that one of the arrested persons was taking part in the protest, though he did not own any land.
He further pointed out that the families of the detained persons had submitted petitions to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, through him, requesting that the Goondas Act invoked against the protesters be revoked.
Noting that Tiruvannamalai did not have any industries whatsoever, he said that following demands from the people, late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi initiated measures to bring factories to the district to generate employment for the youth. Pointing out that over 2,400 acres of land had been acquired as part of the first two phases of setting up SIPCOT industrial estates, he said more than 60 companies had set up their factories, providing employment to over one lakh people.
He alleged that those who were protesting against the land acquisition were doing so with the motive of bringing the State government into disrepute and sabotaging its efforts to generate more employment in the district. He said that Tiruvannamalai still remained an agricultural district and the land being acquired for the SIPCOT project was a tiny percentage of the total area of agricultural land available.
He dismissed AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s criticism of the government, stating that even the previous AIADMK government tried to acquire land for the project, but failed.
Mr. Velu said the AIADMK leader was frustrated by the DMK government’s measures to acquire land to generate more employment.
Earlier, Mr. Palaniswami warned the DMK government of an agitation if it did not immediately withdraw the cases filed against seven farmers under the Goondas Act. In a statement, he said certain parts of the district, such as Melma junction road and Koozhamandal, looked like war-torn areas and the government had put up fence wires, similar to the ones on the India-Pakistan border, and stationed anti-riot vehicles to quell the farmers’ protest.
In a statement, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi president M.H. Jawahirullah too condemned the arrest of the farmers under the Goondas Act and demanded that the government revoke the Act slapped on them.
