CPI flays CM for backing expressway

“The State government should take full responsibility for any incident that might happen after the farmers intensified their agitation in the wake of the government taking up the project again,” Mutharasan said in a statement.

Condemning Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for asserting that the eight-lane Salem-Chennai expressway would be built, Mutharasan said farmers in Salem, Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts protested against the project despite the State government filing cases against those opposed to it.

He noted that the Madras High Court ordered in favour of the protesting farmers by quashing the land acquisition and asked the government to return the acquired lands. “After maintaining a silence on the issue until the elections, the Chief Minister has now asserted that the project would be implemented. It only shows the highhandedness of the Chief Minister,” the CPI leader said, adding that the government going against the people’s sentiment would create a negative impact.

“Allies of the AIADMK should reveal their stand on the project,” he said, urging the State government to scrap the project.