The farmers of Salem district have urged the State and Central governments to provide them ‘adequate’ compensation since they fear that farming activities would come to a standstill in their lands once the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) completes the ambitious Kochin – Bangalore natural gas pipeline project. Of the 310 kilometre-long underground pipeline that passes through the districts of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem and Krishnagiri, as many as 70 km of pipeline traverses through 28 villages in Salem district, mainly through Sankagiri and Omalur taluks. The 30-inch gas pipeline will be laid at a depth of five feet. GAIL would disburse 10 per cent of the land value to the land owners as compensation, which farmers claim, is grossly inadequate. Though farmers do not oppose it, the stringent regulations by GAIL, they told The Hindu , would affect agriculture totally. “The conditions are that irrigation wells should not be dug and trees should not be planted in the area where pipelines would be laid. The compensation announced is also meagre as the land value, fixed two decades ago, has been taken into account,” the farmers claimed. They also worry that their crops would suffer ‘recurrent disruptions’ since the pipeline maintenance works would be carried out every four years for which there is no provision for any special compensation. The farmers insist that the gas pipeline be laid along the highways so that agricultural lands could be spared. People in many villages in these two taluks have already been served with notices for Right of Way (ROW) for acquiring the land under the Petroleum and Mineral Pipeline (Acquisition of Right of Users in Land Act) 1962 and the process of acquiring lands is on. But senior officials in GAIL, however, claimed that the laying of pipeline had temporary been stopped as a “few farmers have obtained stay.” The pipeline would carry six million cubic metres of gas from a terminal in Salem to port town Cuddalore to supply gas for domestic consumption.