After the November protests against the proposed power plant near Sirkazhi in Nagapattinam district on January 21st, angry agricultural labourers and poor peasants once more held a protest demonstration in front of the Sub-Collectors’ office at Myiladuthurai. The protest was organized by AIALA-CPI(ML) as part of the 'No-Power-Plant’ campaign. The protesters, more than 200 in number, demanded scraping of the proposed power plant, distribution of the land already acquired to the landless and poor peasants under the 2-acre land scheme, and complete withdrawal of false cases against activists protesting the land acquisition. A delegation of the AIALA-CPI(ML) also met the Sub-Collector under the leadership of Com. Ilangovan (National councilor of AIALA and CPI(ML) state committee member).
The proposed power plant is to have a capacity of 1000 MW. This project will severely affect the fishing community, as well as the agrarian labourers and poor peasants, resulting in a loss of livelihoods. So far, 1,013 acres of agricultural land has been acquired at the cost of Rs. 15 crore. Local leaders of various political parties have helped the land acquisition process. Though the project has been in the pipeline since 2007, the resistance has only gather momentum recently when people understood the adverse impacts of the proposed project.
Recently, another scam has been unearthed by the AIALA-CPI(ML) investigation team, which has increased peoples' anger and strengthened the movement against the power plant. An organisation named Dr. Ambedkar People Society (DAPSI) has been formed to promote and implement the National SC/ST Commission's ‘Land to the Tiller’ scheme. Under the scheme, Dalit tillers are provided loans so that they can buy land from the zamindars and later on repay the loan with some interest. With the help of loans from THADCO (a quasi-governmental organization that aids dalit entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu), DAPSI purchased 118 acres of agricultural land from a zamindar. But the land records never reached the actual dalit beneficiaries, though they have already paid Rs 40-60,000 as interest on the loans taken to purchase the land. These 118 acres (which were originally purchased at the rate of Rs 18,000-21,000 per acre) have now been sold to the Power Plant at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per acre, without the consent of the beneficiaries. DAPSI has made a lot of money on the deal, since the Tamil Nadu government has waived the THADCO loan to the tune of Rs 83 crores. Once the power plant-DAPSI-district administration nexus came to light, the dalit labourers and poor peasants demanded their lands back, and pledged to stop the land acquisition process for the power plant.
The public hearing for the plant has been convened twice, and both times the meetings have ended abruptly in the face of public opposition. The company then decided to divide the local people to break the movement against land acquisition. On Jan 1st, a group clash between the fisher folk in the village was engineered. The district administration, waiting for a chance, sprung into action. So far, 66 people of Vanagiri village have been implicated under several false cases and 22 of them are in the Trichy Jail. Indira Gandhi, one of the main activists of the movement, has also been sent to jail on false charges.
A CPI(ML)-AIALA team headed by Com. Ilangovan (other members of the team were Subramanian, Veerachelvan and Kalaiarasan) visited the affected villages, and various protest actions have been planned in the coming days. Apart from this project, several other coal-based power plants have been proposed in this 1000 km coastal stretch. Many ports are also in the pipeline to facilitate the operation of these proposed power plants - altogether three major ports and 9 minor ports and few jetties have been proposed. 3000 acres of non-agricultural land has already been acquired by the DMK government and handed over to the Tridem group for one of these projects. These projects will wreak havoc to the fragile local ecology of the area, apart from causing large-scale displacement. The party and AIALA have planned to intensify the ‘no-power-plant campaign’ in the area, in light of these upcoming projects.
