The Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations in Tamil Nadu has urged the State Government to pass a resolution against the hydrocarbon exploration project in the Assembly during the current session in order to imbibe confidence in the minds of the farmers that their livelihood would not be obliterated.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Committee chairman P. R. Pandian regretted that while the Chief Minister and other Ministers were asserting that the hydrocarbon project would not be allowed in the State, the companies to whom the Union Government had granted permission to take up exploration of hydrocarbon in the Delta, have started implementing the project.
In some places, steps have been taken for reviving wells. They have also started ‘acquiring’ lands from farmers in some areas such as Aadhividangam in Tiruvarur district, for drilling new wells by stating that these wells were to be drilled for extracting oil.
When the ryots who suspect some foul play try to prevent them from going ahead with their project, they were silenced by the police who arrest them on charges of staging demonstrations without permission, he charged.
“If the State Government passed a resolution in the Assembly stating that hydrocarbon project will not be allowed in Tamil Nadu, like the stand taken by the Puducherry Government in this issue, the agitating farmers can stall the works taken up by companies at the preliminary stage itself,” Mr. Pandian claimed.
The delay in passing a resolution in the Assembly and the activities of the contracted companies have given rise to the suspicions among farmers that the government and the companies could be hand in glove in the issue, he added.