Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, should clarify the State Government’s stand on allowing the acquisition of farmland for the expansion of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), said PMK president, Anbumani Ramadoss, on Friday, August 4, 2023.
Talking to reporters in Madurai, Dr. Anbumani said the Chief Minister had given an assurance in the Legislative Assembly that no permission would be given for Mine III of NLC. However, the Union Minister for Coal has stated that the Centre was proposing to start Mine III, and the Tamil Nadu government has not registered its opposition to this issue.
The T.N. government has given, on lease, 64,750 acres of farm land to NLC. The power plant has previously completely destroyed 40,000 acres of land, the PMK leader said. “Now, it is ready to destroy another 25,000 to 30,000 acres of farm land for its expansion,” Dr. Anbumani said.
The assurance of the CM in the Assembly and the statement by the Union Minister on this issue contradict each other, he said, and called for a clarification.
The NLC Board has sanctioned Mine III and a ₹4,500-crore fund has been sanctioned for the acquisition of 12,500 acres of land in 26 villages, Dr. Anbumani claimed. “Among these 26 villages, nine villages come under the Protected Special Agricultural Zone, and the rest fall under Cauvery Delta region. Why is the Chief Minister, who proudly calls himself a man from the Cauvery Delta, maintaining silence on this important issue,” the PMK leader asked.
Dr. Anbumani said that present issue was not that of NLC’s power production, but of protection of the farmland of Tamil Nadu. At a time when Tamil Nadu has been warned of severe famines in the next decade, it was necessary to protect the State’s farmlands, he said.
When the State has excess power production, why should T.N. allow NLC, which produces just 800 MW of power, to expand, that too, when the Centre has already announced the privatisation of NLC, he asked.
Dr. Anbumani visited his party cadre who have been lodged at Madurai and Palayamkottai Central Prisons in connection with the violence at a protest near NLC in Neyveli on July 28.
