Madras HC stalls NLC’s solar power plant work in Virudhunagar district

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday stalled NLC’s solar power plant work in four villages in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu till March 26.
The division bench of justices T S Sivagnanam and R Tharani, which heard the petition filed by A Narayana Athimoolam of Tiruchuli, said the project would be kept in abeyance and ordered notice to NLC chairman and Jakson Engineers Ltd.
When the case came up for hearing, the petitioner's counsel told the court that the NLC was going to set up solar power plants in four villages - Tiruchuli, Parattanatham, Thammanayackanpatti and Pillaiyarnatham. NLC, through Jakson Engineers Ltd, was purchasing several acres of land and was doing construction works in 1,000 acres of land, he said.
He said they were encroaching on water bodies and pathways. Also, they damaged electric poles. Their actions had resulted in villagers facing many problems, he said. People were not able to access water bodies, including the the Narayana Cauvery (Gundar) river, according to the petitioner. He said the companies had damaged pipelines and borewells.
Local people approached district officials with necessary details and urged them to prevent the companies from encroaching on the land and water bodies. But there was no action from the officials.