Farmers to stage indefinite protest against IDPL project

Farmers from five villages in Tiruppur district will stage an indefinite protest against the Irugur – Devangonthi Petroleum and Petroleum Product Pipeline (IDPL) by Bharat Petroleum from September 15 (Tuesday).

District secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association R. Kumar said the protest would be organised by the Federation of Farmers Affected by the IDPL Project at Kandiyankovil village panchayat in Pongalur block from 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Farmers from Alagumalai and Kandiyankovil villages in Pongalur block and from Padiyur, Sivanmalai and Maravapalayam from Kangeyam block will participate, he said.

A group of farmers from the Federation met Tiruppur Revenue Divisional Officer Kavitha on Monday for talks to withdraw the protest. However, Mr. Kumar said that their talks were not successful and that the indefinite protest would be held as scheduled.

The farmers’ demands were laying pipelines alongside roads instead of agricultural lands, stopping the project works immediately and passing of a resolution by the State government in the Assembly in this regard. Apart from Tiruppur district, the indefinite protests will be held in five other districts namely Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.

“The protest will continue till the resolution is passed in the Assembly,” Mr. Kumar said.