Puducherry: The Association of Farmers of Kombakkam village has appealed to the administration to drop its move to create a satellite town as the project will involve acquisition of vast stretches of fertile lands.

President of the association R. Srinivasan said that the scheme to establish the town, through acquisition of farmlands, would be a step that would be contrary to what the All India Congress Committee leader, Sonia Gandhi, had said.

The leader had taken the stand that no fertile land should be acquired for any scheme. Mr. Srinivasan said in a release here on Thursday that Kombakkam was a fertile segment within the limits of Puducherry.

He said that satellite towns should normally come up on non-fertile land and should be beyond 15 km from the main town. Mr. Srinivasan referred to how the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu had abandoned such a project in the wake of protest from different sections of people.

`C' class city

Puducherry was only a `C' class city and there would be no justification to have a satellite town when the main town itself was classified as such. Around 900 acres of land was sought to be acquired and ultimately more than 9,000 acres would be acquired. Real estate would register a boom at the cost of environmental protection, and traffic congestion would hit the quality of life.

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