Chennai, Mar 10 (IANS): AIADMK interim general secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami has come out strongly against the NLC India Limited acquiring land for its expansion projects in Cuddalore district of the state.

EPS in a statement on Friday called upon the NLC India -- a Central public sector undertaking, to abandon the project, and also called upon the M.K. Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government to hold tripartite talks with the NLC India management and people who were losing land under the acquisition programme of the power major.

"The welfare of the farmers and the people of Cuddalore district is also as important as the thermal power station and the Coal mines are for the electricity needs of the country," the former Chief Minister said.

He also said that since 1956 when the NLC was established, it has not met any needs of the people of the area who had given land for its development.

Palaniswami also said that the AIADMK has raised its voice from time to time for the people, regardless of who was in power. The former Chief Minister also said that from the year 2000 till date, there was no adequate compensation for the land acquired by NLC.

The former Chief Minister said: "Yesterday (Thursday), the NLC administration engaged in the work of levelling the land in the agricultural fields under the protection of hundreds of policemen, after imprisoning the land-owners, including the farmers in the area of Valiyamadevi in the Cuddalore district."

The AIADMK and the BJP are engaged in a slugfest.

According to a political analyst, the statement of the AIADMK interim general secretary, K. Palaniswami, against the Central government PSU is an indicator of the confrontation the party is having with the BJP.