Erode: Hundreds of people staged a protest at Palapalayam on Wednesday against the Union government’s proposal to set up a toll plaza on the Erode-Mysuru national highway near Gobichettipalayam in the district.
The Union government is laying a four-lane road between Erode and Bannari via Kavindapady and Gobichettipalayam on the Erode-Mysuru national highway. National Highway Authority (NHA) officials recently put up a board stating that a toll plaza will be set up there and started the preparatory work for the project.
The local villagers objected to the plaza, claiming that if the Union government went ahead with the project, residents of 50 villages, including Kavindapady, Palapalayam, Suriyampalayam, Kovilpalayam, Odathurai, Kalichettipalayam, Bommanaickenpalayam, and Othakuthirai and its surrounding villages would be adversely affected.
The farmers from these villages usually go to Sathyamangalam and Karnataka via Palapalayam to sell their produce. “Similarly, sugarcane farmers usually keep their produce at any of the 72 sugarcane godowns in these villages,” said K Balavinayagam, one of the protesters at Palapalayam.
He said the farmers taking their produce to the state government’s regulatory markets in the district through Palapalayam will also be affected. “The produce rates will automatically increase when the farmers have to pay toll at the plaza,” the protesters said.
Meanwhile, Gobichettipalayam AIADMK MLA K A Sengottaiyan told reporters that the toll plaza will not be set up at Palapalayam. “People don’t need to worry about it,” he said.
The Union government is laying a four-lane road between Erode and Bannari via Kavindapady and Gobichettipalayam on the Erode-Mysuru national highway. National Highway Authority (NHA) officials recently put up a board stating that a toll plaza will be set up there and started the preparatory work for the project.
The local villagers objected to the plaza, claiming that if the Union government went ahead with the project, residents of 50 villages, including Kavindapady, Palapalayam, Suriyampalayam, Kovilpalayam, Odathurai, Kalichettipalayam, Bommanaickenpalayam, and Othakuthirai and its surrounding villages would be adversely affected.
The farmers from these villages usually go to Sathyamangalam and Karnataka via Palapalayam to sell their produce. “Similarly, sugarcane farmers usually keep their produce at any of the 72 sugarcane godowns in these villages,” said K Balavinayagam, one of the protesters at Palapalayam.
He said the farmers taking their produce to the state government’s regulatory markets in the district through Palapalayam will also be affected. “The produce rates will automatically increase when the farmers have to pay toll at the plaza,” the protesters said.
Meanwhile, Gobichettipalayam AIADMK MLA K A Sengottaiyan told reporters that the toll plaza will not be set up at Palapalayam. “People don’t need to worry about it,” he said.
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