Tirumalisai near Chennai is set to be a new satellite town that has been in the offing for quite sometime now. The idea was originally floated in 1996 keeping in mind some five villages of Tiruvallur District with 2500 acres for the purpose. But the exercise was dropped looking to the opposition from the farming community. An attempt was mde in 2001 with 1700 acres. Again in 2006 the area was reduced to 466 acres. The present government again renewed its plan to start the project in 2011 with a proposal to acquire some 311 acres from those five villages namely Tirumalisai, Kuttambakkam, Chembarabakkam, Parvadarajapuram and Vellavedu. The allegation of the farmers is that the authorities mainly of Tamil Nadu Housing Board have been falsely representing to the state government that the lands proposed for acquisition are rain-fed areas whereas they are actually irrigated paddy fields. Some 300 farmers with 2000 agricultural labourers and their families are dependent on farming. They are apprehensive of not only losing their livelihood but also getting uprooted from their households.
It is better to inspect the spot by a committee of ministers and higher officials before deciding on the proposal of setting up the satellite town on this stretch of land near Chennai.
There is no doubt that we need a town nearby to ease this situation from Chennai city but at the same time one has to be careful and sympathetic towards the concerns of the farmers. And we can hardly afford to lose the paddy fields for the sake of concrete jungles. Otherwise we may have to face another Singur-type of a situation in Tamil Nadu too.
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