PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday said that the Tamil Nadu government should make a policy announcement that it would not acquire farmland for establishing State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamilnadu Ltd. (SIPCOT) industrial parks.
In a statement, he said that the government was planning to acquire 2,700 acres of farmland in over 11 villages around Tiruvannamalai district for the expansion of SIPCOT, Cheyyar. Farmers have been protesting for the past 20 days against the move, but the government was not respecting their sentiments, he added.
He said that while SIPCOT parks were welcome, it should not come at the cost of destroying agriculture. The State should not adopt double standards in safeguarding agricultural land. The government had dropped land acquisition for Annur SIPCOT and, similarly, it should cancel the move for Cheyyar SIPCOT, he said.
In a separate statement, PMK founder S Ramadoss said that the representations made by the State government to the Centre on the release of Cauvery water by Karnataka did not yield any results and the State government should move Supreme court, seeking urgent hearing on the issue.
