In a fresh series of protests against GAIL and its fuel pipelines, farmers gathered outside the South Taluk Office and raised slogans, swearing that they will not give away even a handful of soil to the authorities.

GAIL had been busy setting up pipelines to transport gas from Kochi to Bengaluru, via Tamil Nadu. The pipelines will pass through seven districts in the state, including Coimbatore and Tirupur. Farmers have been agitating against the pipeline constructions because these pipelines pass through the agricultural lands. In addition to posing grave danger of explosion and leakage, these pipelines could drastically affect agriculture in the entire area.

Farmers are demanding that the pipelines be constructed next to the roads in order to not damage the fields, but GAIL authorities are adamant about not changing their plans.

The protest outside the South Taluk Office was led by the district president of the State Farmers Union, M. Thangavel. Former CPI M.P. P.R. Natarajan; G. Nagaraj, the president of the Kongunadu Democratic Party; VP Elangovan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association also participated in the protests.

While the protesters clarified that they are not anti-development, but they stuck to their demands that the pipelines be carried along the National Highways. They also demanded that the state government get serious about the review petition.