Nine residents of Tondiarpet, claiming to have been affected by leakages from oil pipelines, have filed fresh petitions with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Southern Bench, seeking an order for compensation to be paid to them.
In September 2012, the leakages from pipelines of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the densely populated north Chennai locality of Tondiarpet sparked tensions and set off a wave of panic.
Following an application from V.P. Krishnamoorthy of Old Washermenpet, the NGT had directed the Union government to evolve an action plan to address and combat oil leaks and spills to mitigate the damage caused in case of any incident.
Subsequently, the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas had submitted its action plan stating it would completely shift the pipeline operations to Ennore.
K.S. Jayaraman and eight other residents of Varadharaja Perumal Street have now filed the fresh applications seeking compensation from the authorities.
They claimed their wells, borewells and other places in their residential area had been affected due to the oil leakage.
On Monday, admitting their applications, the Bench comprising Justice M. Chockalingam and Prof. R. Nagandren ordered issuance of notices to the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas as well as the OMCs.
