The Pudukudi village panchayat in Andimadam taluk in Ariyalur district has passed a resolution opposing any move to explore hydrocarbons, not only from the village, but in the entire district.
The resolution was adopted and signed by the panchayat president J. Rajendran during a meeting of the panchayat on Thursday. The special resolution was passed in the wake of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited seeking environmental clearance for drilling exploratory wells at 15 places in the State including 10 in Ariyalur district recently.
“The resolution against the exploration of hydrocarbons expresses the collective sentiments of the farmers and the people of Pudukudi as any move to carry out the project would adversely affect the livelihood of farmers,” said P. Boopathy of Pudukudi.
The resolution said that agriculture is taken up in various places including Tirumanur, T. Palur, Andimadam , Sendurai and Jayamkondam in the district. Hence, it urged the State government to exert pressure on the Centre to prevent exploration of hydrocarbons anywhere in Ariyalur district. The general public and farmers of the district had been consistently opposing any move to explore hydrocarbons for the past five years since 2015 by staging protests, it said.
Demanding that the move to explore hydrocarbons be withdrawn, the resolution urged the Chief Minister and the State government to include Ariyalur district in the Protected Special Agricultural Zone and thereby save the interests of the farmers.
