A large number of farmers, on December 17, 2018, appealed to the district administration to prevail upon the Tamil Nadu government, to cancel the proposal of a greenfield project to make the highway between Karur and Coimbatore six-lane. The farmers affiliated to various political parties such as the CPI and the CPI-M, under the aegis of the committee for protection of rights of farmers of Kongu region, submitted a petition claiming that nearly 3,000 acres of fertile land would be acquired for the project.
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This would lead to loss of land belonging to many farmers and deprive them of their livelihood, the farmers said in the petition. They said the government can instead consider expanding the existing Karur-Coimbatore road, a distance of 131 kms. The farmers, numbering nearly 300, led by former CPI-M MP PR Natarajan and CPI leader S Palanisamy, also accused the government of trying to help corporates by implementing the project.
