7 of 21 TN farmers held for protest against land acquisition booked under Goondas Act

SIPCOT, a nodal agency of the Tamil Nadu government, was established to develop industrial growth in the state.

On a patta land, the farmers have been staging a sit-in-protest and raising slogans, urging the government to drop the project. (Express Photo)

Based on an FIR filed in August, on November 4, the police arrested 21 farmers late in the night. All of them were subsequently remanded to judicial custody.

In a statement, District Collector B Murugesh said seven farmers, including M Thirumal (30), K Pachaiyappan (47), M Devan (45), B Bakkiyaraj (38), C Masilamani (45), N Sozhan (30) and A Arul (45) of various villages around Cheyyar have been booked under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act.

The Goondas Act is invoked against individuals found indulging in activities prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.

The farmers have been protesting against the proposed acquisition of their agricultural wetlands for over four months since July. On a patta land, the farmers have been staging a sit-in-protest and raising slogans, urging the government to drop the project. The protestors fear it will affect their livelihood and cause damage to the environment.

Jayaram Venkatesan, the convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, a non-governmental anti-corruption watchdog, in a letter on November 10 to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said the government’s stand to oppress the fundamental rights of the farmers is reprimandable.

The letter was also marked to senior government officials, including Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, Home Secretary Amutha and Director General of Police Shankar Jiwal.

“The FIR in August was booked when they (the protestors) were walking together for a public hearing. Why are they being arrested and remanded on an old FIR after two months?” Venkatesan asked in the letter. He added that the arrest is “a chilling example to scare the other farmers”.

The Goondas Act is invoked against individuals found indulging in activities prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. (Express Photo)

In a video shared by the organisation on their social media handle, a woman identified as Ezhilarsi, wife of Masilamani, who has been booked under the Goondas Act, is seen claiming that the police threatened her to sign the notice.

Venkatesan said that the women were told that if they sign the notice, their husbands will soon receive bail. He added that the women did not know that the notice was to inform them that their husbands have been booked under the Goondas Act.

She added that they are protesting for their own land and if the government still wants to build a project on their agricultural land, it should be done over their grave.

Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Pathukappu Sangam (Tamil Nadu Farmer’s Protection Union) leader Eesan Murugasamy told indianexpress.com that the government is trying to acquire approximately 3,200 acre of land from 11 farming villages – Melma, Kurumbur, Kaatukudisai, Veerambakkam, Manipuram, Narmapallam, Thethurai, Nedungal, Vada Alapirandan, Elaneerkulam and Athi for the Melma-Sipcot project.

He said despite multiple petitions to the officials by the farmers’ association, there was no action from the government’s side.

On the November 4 arrest, Murugasamy said, “The police barged into the houses of the farmers in the wee hours. People like A Arul have been booked under the Goondas Act as he was already on police radar for protesting against the government over the eight-lane expressway project.”

“SIPCOT is trying to establish another project on approximately 3,200 acre of agricultural wetlands at the Cheyyar block. Tiruvannamalai is an agricultural town and already two units – Cheyyar I, Cheyyar II — are established here. Moreover, over 1,000 acre of the Cheyyar II unit is yet not occupied. Under these circumstances, the government is planning another unit within seven kilometre of the existing units,” he said.

Murugasamy added, “The farmers, whose lands were taken for the construction of the earlier units, were not provided proper resettlement. They were not paid as per the market value. They were cheated. Some of them are now working as watchmen for the unit established on the land they once owned.”

The protestors fear that the proposed land acquisition will affect their livelihood and cause damage to the environment. (Express Photo)

According to sources, the public consultation meetings that were held in Cheyyar by the district administration did not yield any solution.

Murugasamy noted that the protestors are small-time farmers cultivating paddy, sugarcane and other crops who don’t have more than five acre of land and depend heavily on their farm land for their livelihood.

A meeting of a farmers’ association has been scheduled at Tiruchirapalli Saturday when the functionaries are likely to announce the next course of action.

Political parties, including the AIADMK, the BJP and the PMK, activists and members of the civil society have been demanding Stalin to immediately withdraw the cases filed against the farmers and release them.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “The Melma junction road and Koozhamandal areas look like a war field amid deployment of police personnel, barbed wires like borders and riot vehicles stationed to curtail the protests. If the government doesn’t withdraw the Goondas Act, the AIADMK will carry out protests across the state.”

Meanwhile, multiple attempts by indianexpress.com to get in touch with the Tiruvannamalai district administration and the police for a comment failed.