Villagers, farmers and environmental activists staged a demonstration against the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) at Kamalapuram Ukkadai in Panaiyur panchayat of Kottur union on Wednesday alleging that the oil and natural gas exploration activities have left the groundwater polluted and it was affecting the public a lot.
Speakers at the demonstration said that the ONGC had sunk six wells in the area and was sinking the seventh. In the past 30 years, the ONGC was exploring oil and natural gas in the Cauvery Basin but its activities had spoiled the groundwater and other precious natural resources affecting farmers in a massive manner.
Previously to explore crude oil, the ONGC was sinking wells to a depth of 500 to 1,000 feet but the depths of the new wells have sunk to 3.5 km now, speakers alleged adding that the chemical fracturing resorted to by the ONGC was spoiling the ecology of the zone.
They demanded that to protect the Cauvery basin in the delta region and to preserve the livelihood of the lakhs of farmers and farmer workers, the ONGC must be forced to leave the region by declaring the Cauvery delta as protected agriculture zone.
Public welfare committee president R. Dhanraj, Federation against methane project coordinator Jayaraman, and local leaders of the political parties participated in the demonstration.
