Salem : Farmers are voluntarily coming forward and giving land for the 277 km Salem-Chennai eight lane corridor, Tamil Nadu chief minister, Edappadi K Palanisamy said today.

Some four to five farmers out of 100 were refusing to give land and all others are voluntarily come forward for the project, Palanisamy told reporters at the City Airport.

With vehicular traffic increasing two times, it is the duty of the Government to widen the road and Centre is taking necessary steps in this regard, with the State government’s assistance, he said.

Besides, more compensation is being given, unlike the DMK regime, he said adding that compensation is being given for construction of houses also.

There is also the need to expand the city airport, considering that new industries are likely to come up in the area, he said.

With regard to Cauvery issue, he said that only Karnataka has not nominated their representative for the Cauvery Management Board, while all other three riparian states has its nominee on the board.

With the Cauvery Water Regulatory Commitee in place, it will take steps to release the quantum of water to Tamil Nadu every month, which will be monitored by the Board, he said.

On the arrest of DMK workers in Namakkal Palanisany said that one cannot prevent the Governor from constructive review of the development projects.

The cases against DMK workers were registered only after they started to indulge in creating law and order problem, he pointed out.

Stating that it was not fair to talk about the 18 MLAs issue, since it was in the Court, Palanisamy appealed to avoid criticising the Judiciary.

The State government had already urged the Centre to not privatise Salem steel plant and the issue was also raised in the Parliament, he said.