Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately intervene in the gas pipeline project of GAIL (India) Ltd as the proposed alignment will pose serious problems for farmers and common people.

The pipeline will cause irreparable damage to agricultural property of thousands of farmers in seven districts. It has led to considerable apprehension and agitation amongst the people who are also concerned about the risks the project poses, she said in a letter to Modi.

Expert panel The State government has constituted an expert committee to examine the possibilities of re-aligning the pipeline along the National Highways. Officials of GAIL can be asked to be part of this committee so that a mutually acceptable solution can be found in the interest of agriculturists, she said in the letter.

GAIL had laid the pipelines in Kerala along the highways instead of on private lands, the letter said.

The project can be resolved through a joint constructive and accommodative approach, she said.

It is a matter of great urgency to those residing in Tirupur, Erode, Coimbatore, Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, through which the proposed Kochi-Kuttanad-Mangaluru-Bengaluru gas pipeline is expected to traverse.

The 20-metre-wide pipeline project will cover 310 km. The project will adversely affect lakhs of mango, jackfruit and coconut trees that are extensively grown in the project affected areas. It is estimated that over 1.2 lakh fruit-bearing trees will have to be uprooted for laying the pipes. It would be impossible for GAIL to plant 12 lakh trees.

Work halted Tamil Nadu government on April 2, 2013, advised GAIL to stop the work on its present proposed alignment through the agricultural lands and explore ways of laying it along the National Highways.

A re-alignment of the pipeline along the highways with the least harm to the people and the least adverse impact on agriculture would be the best way forward to speedily implement the project, Jayalalithaa added.