Villagers of Sivadi here staged a demonstration against the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s proposed pipeline project on Tuesday. The protesters, led by the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, objected to the proposed pipeline project that envisions a pipeline from Vijaywada to Dharmapuri, where a storage terminal will be set up here.
According to the HPCL website, it is set up to cater to the petroleum needs of the Salem-Coimbatore belt.
The 697 km Vijaywada Dharmapuri pipeline (VDPL) project is slated to acquire over 123 acres of land from Sivadi village in Dharmapuri. The project has seen objections from the villagers over the last many months since the time landowners received notices of the proposal on their land holdings.
According to Tamil Nadu Vivasyaigal Sangam, the villagers had objected to the project in May 2020, and the same were conveyed to the district administration. However, despite objections to taking away of the primarily marginal landholdings of the villagers, the administration has not intervened on behalf of the Sivadi residents, the Sangam has alleged.
Speaking at the protest, former Harur MLA Dilli Babu said that over 70 of the lands proposed for acquisition for the company belonged to Dalits and were marginal landholdings. Later, the protesters submitted a petition to the district administration.
