GAIL’s project to lay a pipeline from Kochi to Bangalore via Erode district in Tamil Nadu for transporting gas is being opposed by the local farmers.
The farmers in a memorandum to the District Collector stated that the GAIL proposed to dig trenches on agricultural lands in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal, Salem and Dharmapuri districts to take the gas through pipelines. In Erode district the proposed pipeline will pass through villages of Chennimalai, Avapoondurai, Mugasipulavampalayam, Koothampalayam, Vaipady, Ingure, Vellode, Uthukuli and some other villages.
The farmers have appealed to the state government and GAIL to discontinue the plan. They have requested to lay the pipelines via National Highways by digging roads instead of using fertile land.