People oppose Titanium di-oxide proj in TN

Chennai, Aug 1: People in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts were stoutly opposed to Tata's Titanium di-oxide project being set by Tata Steel with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore to extract the reserves of Titanium minerals in the two districts, according to a fact-finding team.

Soon after the Tamil Nadu government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Steels, Sarath Kumar, the actor who is all set to launch his political party and enjoys support of the predominant Nadar community people in southern districts, deputed a team to ascertain the views of the local people about the proposed project and released to the media, the findings of the team.

The team, comprising among others, two retired officials, toured extensively and contacted the various shades of people connected with the issue and came to the conclusion that with the existing clauses of MoU signed by the state government with Tata Steel, there was very remote possibility of the project coming up.

''We will lay down our lives rather giving a cent of our land for the Tatas,'' agitated people were seen telling the team officials in video clippings during their interaction with the local people shown to the media.

What is the use of Tata giving direct employment to 1,000 people and indirect employment to 3,000 people when more than 18,000 families would be displaced after their lands were acquired for the project, the people asked the team members.

Giving details of the findings, Mr Kumar said it was very clear that the people were not willing to part with their lands as many were emotionally attached to their soil as they had burial sites or places of worship in the family lands. There was also fear in the minds of the people that the government would forcibly take away their lands at lower prices and hand them over to Tatas for mining purposes.

Of the 16,000 acres of land proposed to be acquired, nearly 60 per cent were cultivable lands and the people warn that another ''Nandigram'' like situation would emerge if the government acquired their lands as part of the MoU, it had signed with Tata Steel, Mr Kumar said.

''The overall impression we got during the visit to the villages is that the land owners and other residents fear that the entire social fabric is threatened to be torn,'' he said, adding that he would handover the report of the fact-finding team, along with video clippings to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

Welcoming the government's decision to depute a team, comprising ministers and senior officials to study the situation and elicit the views of the people, Mr Kumar said the government should have carried out the exercise before signing the MoU.

Asked whether it was possible for the project to take off, Mr Kumar said as per the MoU signed by the state government, it would be absolutely not possible to implement the project as there was no financial committment on the part of the government for the local people. He said the team found the local people remained unconvinced about the promises made by the government and the Tatas and they would budge if the government itself came forward to implement the project, instead of handing it over to a private party.

Asked about AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa claiming credit for making the state government to put on hold the project, he said Ms Jayalalithaa, having signed the MoU during her tenure had no locus standi to talk about the issue.

''She has no right to talk about the issue,'' he said.

Mr Kumar said the team's report was genuine and unbiased and the government was free to check the veracity of the report.

The team to be deputed by the government, should not coerce or force the local people to agree for the project, he added.

UNI