Farmers continue stir against NH works on farmlands in Thanjai

TIRUCHY: Continuing their opposition to the national highway works, farmers from Tiruvaiyau on Tuesday staged a protest demanding to withdraw the project claiming that their cultivable lands are being destroyed.

The works for Perambalur—Manamadurai national highway project being executed at a cost of Rs 91.34 crore is under way via Tiruvaiyaru. Around 100 acres at Gandiyur, Manakarambai, Keezha Thirupanthuruthi and Kalyanapuram villages have been acquired for the project. Since the highway has been planned through cultivable lands, farmers in these villages have been expressing their opposition for a long time and staged a series of protests. Despite several petitions to the officials concerned, there has been no action.

Irate farmers converged at Tiruvaiyaru tahsildar office along with crops like, banana, coconut and paddy seeds and staged a protest. They raised slogans against the project and demanded to find an alternative way.

The protesters suggested that the department could widen the existing road by removing the encroachments so that the agricultural lands could be spared.

The villagers warned that they would commence an indefinite hunger strike if their demands were not met. Subsequently, they submitted a petition to the tahsildar.