Farmers, environmentalists up in arms against Tamil Nadu highway project
Farmers and environmentalists protesting the Chennai-Salem expressway connecting Chennai and Salem, in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
CHENNAI: A Rs10,000 crore project under the union government’s Bharatmala Pariyojana— a highway development programme, is facing a severe backlash from farmers and environmentalists in Tamil Nadu.
The 900-feet-wide green field express highway with an eight-lane between Chennai and Salem— that already has three existing routes—would cover 277.3 kilometres.
In October, the Centre approved the Phase-1 of the Bharatmala project considered as one of India’s biggest highway development plan which would “improve the efficiency of freight movements in India”.
Credit: livemint.com