Will the affected farmers get justice?: The near-total breakdown in communication between the official promoters of development and the 'under-developed' people in whose name development projects are being undertaken was re-enacted at a 'public hearing' held at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore last week regarding the Rs. 765-crore 364-km Mangalore-Bangalore product pipeline project (MBPPP) to be implemented by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).The farmers of the 30 villages through which the pipeline would pass in three taluks of Dakshina Kannada district expressed a tired belligerence at the 'public hearing' conducted by the Deputy Commissioner in the presence of representatives from HPCL and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. One of the farmers, in fact, alleged that several of his trees had been destroyed during the survey, and, when he had questioned the surveyors, he had been told that the orders had come from Delhi. Moreover, the surveyors threatened to have him arrested if he did not co-operate, he said.