he work of erecting towers for the Nagapattinam-Dharmapuri 765 KV transmission lines that passes through fertile lands in many villages of Bethanayakkanpalayam, Vazhappadi, and Attur blocks of Salem district is progressing much to the complaints of farmers.
They say the livelihood of about 10,000 farmers is affected in a big way.
The work began after a notification in a daily way back in 2012.
A large number of coconut, areca nut trees, plantain, sugarcane, and betel wines are facing the axe.
This will cause a heavy loss to the farming community, the farmers of these blocks said in a petition presented to the District Collector V. Sampath here on Monday.
The farmers are already at the receiving end, as they are reeling under severe drought-like conditions for the last five years. Many farmers are procuring water at a huge cost to save the standing crops.
The company entrusted with the power line commissioning work is felling trees without getting permission of land owners. More than one lakh coconut trees, 50,000 areca nut trees, and a considerable number of nilavembu trees will have to be felled. The farmers said that no compensation was paid to them for the crop damaged in the last six months.
The company has not even fixed the quantum of compensation for the felled trees.
The towers will occupy a big area depending on the line capacity. The farmers will not be allowed to grow any tree to a distance of 110 ft on both sides of the transmission line pathway. Land value too will come down, as the place will become unfit to construct any type of buildings, or even digging borewell.
The farmers said that according to the Electricity Act of 2003, and the Licensee Rules 2006, it was mandatory on the part of transmission companies to get nod from farmers, and pay adequate compensation to them. In case of disputes, the company has to approach the district administration seeking the Collector’s intervention in fixing the compensation.
The farmers asked the Collector to fix a compensation of Rs. 25,000 for coconut tree, and Rs. 10,000 for areca nut tree.
The compensation should be handed over to the farmers without any delay. The farmers will resort to agitation, if their just demands were not conceded to, said C. Tamilarasan, a former MLA, who was part of the delegation of farmers that met the Collector.
