Tamil Nadu is fast turning out to be a no-go area for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ltd and other public sector oil companies as agitations against oil extraction rigs and crude oil pipeline project are spreading all over the State.
Monday saw more than three-week-old agitation against ONGC’s natural gas extraction project at Kadirmangalam in Thanjavur district getting intensified.
Vaiko, the maverick MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) leader, who reached the village after a walkathon to express solidarity with the local residents fighting against the gas extraction project collapsed on the stage ostensibly due to exhaustion. The general public got restless and upset over the incident and began shouting slogans against the Centre and the ONGC.
Vaiko said as long as he was alive he would not allow the gas extraction project to be set up at any of the villages in the fertile Cauvery basin districts. The ONGC has decided to drill 110 exploratory and development wells in the region, which forms the part of Cauvery Delta distrcts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl. Experts like P Ananthanarayanan, designated as Clean Development Mechanism Assessor by the United Nations has warned the ONGC and the Union Government against drilling oil and gas wells in the fertile region of the State as it would sound the death knell of agriculture in the area.
Kadiramangalam, the village in Thanjavur where ONGC has decided to drill the well for extracting natural gas has been shut down for the last three weeks. Anbumani Ramadoss, MP and the young leader of the PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi), has demanded that the entire Cauvery Delta districts in Tamil Nadu should be declared as Protected Agricultural Zone (PAZ) and no permission should be given to set up any oil and gas wells in the region.
“We don’t want any projects here which are against the livelihood of the people as well as against ecology and environment of the region. The only means to save Tamil Nadu’s Rice Bowl is to declare the region as PAZ,” said Anbumani Ramadoss.
Meanwhile, the 17-km long crude oil pipeline project to pump crude oil from oil tankers berthed in Chennai Port to the Chennai Petroleum Corporation ltd (CPCl) refinery has run into trouble with hundreds of people coming out in the open to oppose the Rs 257 crore project. J Kosumani, convenor, association of various fishermen unions in Chennai said that in the eventuality of any leak in the pipeline, the whole marine and coastal ecosystem would be destroyed.
“We are yet to recover from the oil spill from a ship that took place in January 2017. It is reported that only one tonne of oil was spilled in the cllission between two ships off the Chennai Port. The 42 inches wide pipeline is transporting hundreds of tonnes of oil and any leak would spell disaster for the whole metropolis,” said Kosumani.
The State and Central Governments are yet to come out with a statement to mollify the people of Tamil Nadu who feel that they are being discriminated against. All Tamil chauvinist and secessionist parties are already out in the open challenging the Government’s move to grant permission to ONGC and the public sector oil giants for the oil and natural gas extraction projects and the crude oil pipeline.