15 September 2007
Special Correspondent
THE HINDU
CUDDALORE: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs A. Arunmozhithevan and Selvi Ramajayam, along with party functionaries, conducted a study in the villages “where the people are facing the threat of eviction on account of the proposed private power project.”
Mr. Arunmozhithevan told The Hindu that the study team on Thursday interacted with the people in Nochikadu, Thiagavalli and Chithirapettai where the Cuddalore Power Company had proposed to acquire 1200 acres for setting up the 1320-MW power project.
The MLA said the people of these villages unanimously turned down the proposal stating that it would displace them and cause heavy pollution.
None of them raised the issue of compensation for the land, because, neither the farmers nor the labourers were willing to move out of their native places.
They were apprehensive that the project would take away their ancestral property, deny them livelihood, ruin the marine life and swell the rank of refugees.
The discharge of effluents into the sea would contaminate the groundwater that was available at a depth of 15 to 20 ft.
The generation of huge quantity of ash from the thermal plant would cause all kinds of health hazards. Mr. Arunmozhithevan said what was bothering the villagers the most was the ban on transactions of the property, other than to the CPC.
‘Undue restrictions’
The villagers were against any sorts of restrictions on disposal of property. Land was an asset and its disposal or mortgage would help them to tide over the financial crisis. The blanket ban would put the villagers in a critical situation, as they would be left with no option but to sell the land to the company on its own terms.
The team would submit its findings to the AIADMK supremo for further action, the MLA added.