Mangalore: People who gave land to MRPL asked to give again for HPCL pipeline

Pics: Meryick D'Silva
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NM)
 
Mangalore, Jan 25: Most of those who had earlier lost their lands to MRPL pipeline project are again at the receiving end, with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) likely to set up its gas pipeline next to the existing MRPL pipeline. While the oil company claims that the decision is to decrease the extent of land lost by the people, the land owners refuse to be made victims again.
 
This was one of the many issues raised at a meeting convened by deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim with representatives of oil companies and a few of the affected land owners. The discussion was held at DC’s office here on Saturday, January 25.

Bad Start

Although dozens of land owners gathered at the DC’s office to take part in the discussion, they left angrily when the DC did not arrive even after half an hour's wait. The DC, after he arrived, took Krishnamurthy of land acquisition committee to task for not intimating him about the exact time of the meeting. The DC directed the officials to convince the land owners to come back, however, less than ten persons obliged.
 
Most of the affected land owners were second timers who had earlier given away land to MRPL. Krishnappa, a resident of Adyapady, which is about 8 km away from the city, was angry because he too was among them. "Like HPCL, there are many oil companies in Mangalore. We cannot keep giving our lands to lay pipelines," he said.

Mahabala Shetty of Beltangady opposed the HPCL project saying, "Why is it that only our lands targeted always? We have toiled hard for years to grow paddy and they are fertile lands."
 
For Padmanabh of Maravoor, it was a different issue. He said the pipeline divides his farm into half. Sr Anitha, head of Rosa Mystica institution said, "If the proposed pipeline comes up, we will lose our well. This is the source of water for all the people who are staying there. The institution loses 72 cents of land this time. Earlier, MRPL too had taken away so much of our land."

Also, almost all the land owners demanded a higher percentage of compensation than the present 10 percent of land value offered by HPCL.
 
 
HPCL's Response

Explaining the project to the affected land owners through a power point presentation, G K Yuvaraj, the project manager said, "The 397-km long HPCL gas pipeline project will pass through the district from Mangalore to Hassan. Presently, there are 350 tankers running daily. Many accidents have been reported in Shiradi Ghat. The state government therefore directed us to lay a pipeline as an alternative."

He further said, "We will follow the Petroleum and Mineral Pipleline (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962. Accordingly, no land will be taken away from the people, but we will use only a portion to lay the pipeline 12 metre under the ground. However, the place where the pipeline is laid cannot be used to dig wells or borewells or plant trees with long roots. We will give 10 percent of the present land value as compensation."
 
Urging the residents not to worry about the pipeline, he said, "There are nearly 20,000 km of gas pipelines already installed in the country of which 3,000 km is by HPCL. In Mangalore, a 400 km-long gas pipeline is already laid from Mangalore to Petronet. Don’t be afraid, we will ensure all safety and security. We will also implement helplines, apart from deploying a security personnel every 8 km."

When asked if there were any chances of the pipeline malfunctioning or posing any danger once it is laid, the officials said that there would be no such problem and there would be periodic checking to ensure optimum functioning of the pipeline. They also stressed that the land owners will not be disturbed once the pipeline is laid.
 

DC postpones discussion to Jan 29

As only a few land owners were present for the meeting, the DC said that a second meeting will be held on January 29. Besides, he directed the authorities to come with a comprehensive report in writing on individual basis. On complaints that not all the families were given notice to attend the meeting, he asked the authorities not to do so for the next meeting. In addition, he said that the affected land owners will be informed about what plants could be cultivated around the gas pipeline if it is laid.
 

Boycott

Protesting the project, the Dakshina Kannada district unit of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene said in a press note that they boycotted the meeting called by the deputy commissioner. "How can they invite a discussion on the amount of  compensation, when the farmers are not ready to give their land for the pipeline?" the press note stated.