Another infrastructure project bites the dust

Observers say the government's decision to ask GAIL to pack up smacks of political vendetta

In March, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa told GAIL (India) Ltd to stop work on the Rs 5,000-crore pipeline project to connect Kerala with Karnataka. The chief minister's decision came after a series of protests led mainly by women against GAIL's alleged high-handed tactics in acquiring land.

The villagers in seven districts of the state had alleged that their land was cheaply leased to GAIL without their consent. They were also protesting the use of force to evict them from their property. This grassroots movement, which was going on for over two years, had also caused many villagers to shun all festivities, even the Tamil New Year on January 14.

Their biggest fear was that pipes passing through their land would undermine the value of their property. Also weighing on their minds was the risk of gas leaking from the pipes and putting their lives in danger. However, what angered them most, they say, was that GAIL had not sought their permission before starting to dig up their land to lay the pipeline. To make matters worse, it resorted to police help to get things started. A questionnaire sent to GAIL on the issue did not elicit any response.

The project, initiated by the Navratna company in 2011, was to connect Kochi in Kerala with Mangalore and Bangalore in Karnataka. For this, the pipes had to cross through seven districts in Tamil Nadu. In all, of the 600 km, 310 km were falling in Tamil Nadu. Public sector companies usually take Rights of Users, or permission to use part of the land to lay pipelines, under the Petroleum and Minerals Pipe lines Act, 1962, for such projects.

While GAIL was canvassing that the pipeline will benefit the economy and should be looked as a public-interest project, farmers said it did not look at other viable options to acquiring land, which is taking the pipeline adjacent to the national highways.

"Seeing our land being dug up was like seeing a graveyard," says Thangamani Mullainayakam, 35. She is one of the thousands of farmers across seven districts in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, who were protesting the project. A C Veluswamy, 45, says GAIL decided to lay pipes right through the centre of the two acres that he owned in Tirupur. It also put down stringent conditions on the right to use. M Easan, an advocate who hails from a farming community in the district, says, "The right to Use" given to GAIL over 1,491 acres meant that villagers were unable to use a major portion of their land. It also hemmed their freedom to grow what they wanted; trees with deep roots, like coconut and banana could not be grown. But they say that was not all. Banks began asking for more surety for loans against land that had the GAIL pipe passing through it. Farmers also faced tough penalty (with maximum seven years behind bars) if the pipleline on their land was damaged. "If someone doesn't like me, all he has to do is buy a driller, come to my farm and damage the pipe to put me behind bars," says P M Eswara Moorthy.

Allegations of land grab in case of large infrastructure projects have been all too common in recent years. However, wary of creating another Nandigram or Singur, the Madras High Court directed all the aggrieved parties-the state government, farmers and GAIL- to work a way out of the deadlock.

"Any industrial operation or industrial project can come up only with the consent of the local population. No project can ever be executed by any person, including the state government, through police operations, thereby alienating the entire local population," the Court had observed.

The Court also directed the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to hold public hearings in each of the seven districts to facilitate the laying of the pipeline as the project was of national importance. The meeting, however, failed to converge to a common point.

Observers say the state government's decision to ask GAIL to pack up smacks of political vendetta. As both Karnataka and Kerala are not ready to share water resources with Tamil Nadu, the state government decided to hit back at them by asking GAIL to wind up, they say. Besides, the state government also didn't want to take any chance with its vote bank. Of the 10 Parliamentary seats in the region, eight are with the AIADMK.

Jayalalithaa, however, says one refrain to come out of the public hearing in Chennai, which was attended by farmers from 134 villages, was that the pipeline would adversely affect their livelihood.

GAIL has now been asked to lay the pipe along the highway bordering the cultivable land, close the pits and give the land acquired for the purpose back to the owners. The company will also have to remove all the pipes already placed and compensate farmers for the losses.

Obviously, the decision will have repercussions for GAIL. In a letter to to the state government dated March 8 it said that moving the project along the highway was not viable. There are other issues as well. The National Highways Authority of India usually does not grant permission for such projects. The pipelines close to the highway would also limit its potential for expansion in the future. Besides, it would also involve installation of additional valves and stoppage of traffic for a distance of two km whenever rocks were blasted.