The Ministry of Environment and Forest’s nod to Vedanta Ltd. for carrying out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to drill 274 hydrocarbon wells in the Bay of Bengal and parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is facing growing criticism from political leaders.
On Sunday, the DMK, the PMK and the AMMK criticised the MoEF’s nod for what will be the first step in a long process to set up the hydrocarbon wells.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko slammed the clearance for the EIA and accused the AIADMK government in the State and the BJP regime at the Centre of trying to turn the ‘rice bowl of Tamil Nadu’ — the Cauvery delta region — into a desert by implementing projects like drilling for methane, hydrocarbon and oil.
In a statement, Mr. Vaiko said farmers and members of the public have been protesting against the implementation of such schemes. He said techniques like hydro-fracking will deplete the groundwater in the region. “The crops will be in danger of withering and farmers will not be able to undertake farming on these lands. The government wants to destroy agriculture and the livelihood of lakhs of people just to earn lakhs of crores of money through projects like hydrocarbon drilling in the region,” he said. Mr. Vaiko warned that if the project is not scrapped, the Modi government at the Centre and the Edappadi K. Palaniswami government in Tamil Nadu will have to face the wrath of the people through “volcano-like protests”.
“The Tamil Nadu government should immediately announce that it will not issue the no-objection certificate for the project. We also insist that the Tamil Nadu government ask the Centre to cancel the licences given for the project,” VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan said.
Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani said the government was fishing in troubled waters, and it was unwise to proceed with the project.
