Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today called for filing a review plea in the Supreme Court against its order allowing Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) to lay natural gas pipelines criss-crossing seven districts of the state.
Chairing a high level meeting at the Secretariat in which Advocate General A L Somayaji, ministers and top officials participated, the CM directed filing of a review plea against the apex court order of February 2.
In its order, Supreme Court had allowed GAIL to lay natural gas pipelines in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts dismissing the state's plea against it which had contended that farmers will be affected.
Farmer organisations and political parties in the state, including the ruling AIADMK are against laying of the pipelines in farm lands as it would "affect farmers." They wanted GAIL to rework its alignment and lay down the pipes along highways.
The state government had argued in the apex court that the pipelines in farm lands would affect the livelihood of about 5,500 small farmers.
The proposed Rs 3,400 crore GAIL pipeline project from Kochi to Mangaluru covers 300 km in Tamil Nadu which is spread across seven districts.
Following the judgment, opposition parties, including the DMK, DMDK, and CPI (M) urged the Tamil Nadu government to go in for a review petition in the apex court.
