Ask GAIL to lay pipelines along highway, prevent farmer suicides: AIADMK

The opposition AIADMK on Saturday urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to hold a consultation with Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) for laying pipelines along the national highways and also demanded steps to prevent farmer suicides in the state over the project.

Also, the party's coordinator O Panneerselvam called upon the Chief Minister to provide solatium to the family of a farmer from Dharmapuri who allegedly died by suicide fearing his lands would be acquired for the Kochi-Kuttanadu-Mangaluru-Bengaluru (KKMB) project that cuts across seven western districts in the state.

He said the GAIL project was stopped during the AIADMK regime but it gained momentum from July last year.

''The officials started surveying the lands and commenced the project. Fearing that his land would be taken up for the project, the farmer Ganesan committed suicide by hanging himself in Kariappanahalli village recently,'' Panneerselvam said in a statement here.

He said the KKMB pipeline project was being laid from Kochi through Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, to connect with Bengaluru, to carry natural gas.

In 2013, then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who held consultations with farmer representatives, did not allow the project to be laid on farm lands.

''She conveyed the farmer's apprehensions that the project would not only affect their livelihood but also diminish the market value of lands,'' he claimed and wondered what action Stalin had taken over his earlier request to prevent the laying of the pipeline on agriculture lands.

''The news of the alleged suicide of Ganesan has caused great agony. The government should provide compensation to his family and also take steps to prevent farmers' suicide in the state,'' Panneerselvam said.

He called upon the Chief Minister to hold talks with GAIL authorities immediately and ensure the pipelines were laid along the national highways without affecting the farm lands, as was done in Kerala.