IDPL project: farmers reject revised compensation from BPCL

Farmers of Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts on Saturday (July 18) declined to accept the 100% compensation offer for their agricultural land proposed to be utilised for laying an additional petroleum pipeline for the Irugur–Devanagonthi Pipeline (IDPL) project of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).Farmers were unanimous in opposing the BPCL project at a meeting chaired by District Collector Manish Narnaware in Tiruppur.The District Collector urged the farmers to accept guideline value compensation for the agricultural land to be utilised under the Right-of-Use provision. The extent of compensation has been raised to ₹50 crore from the ₹8 crore proposed earlier for land owners in Tiruppur district, and to ₹17 crore from ₹3 crore for those in Coimbatore district, the farmers were told.At the time of initiation in 2023, the BPCL had proposed to pay only 20% of the guideline value to lay underground pipeline for the project.Ramesh, district secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers Protection Movement, questioned why the roadside of the National Highway must not be utilised for laying the pipeline instead of utilising 74 km of agricultural land from Irugur to Muthur. He said the compensation of even 500% of the land value would not be acceptable to the farmers in Sulur taluk of Coimbatore district and Palladam and Kangeyam taluks of Tiruppur district.The first pipeline laid 30 years ago by BPCL has caused permanent distress to the farmers as the land value had come down by 75%, Mr. Ramesh pointed out. Farmers, at that time, were led to believe that a road would be constructed along the pipeline alignment, Mr. Ramesh claimed.Muthuraj, secretary of the PAP Vellakovil Canal Water Conservation Association, questioned the rationale behind laying a portion of the pipeline along agricultural fields for a distance of 74 km. He noted that the remaining part of the 320-km pipeline, from Kochi to Kolar on the outskirts of Bengaluru, passes mostly along the national highways in Nammakal, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri districts. Published - July 18, 2026 08:41 pm IST