Taking a serious view of the oil leakage from pipelines maintained by oil companies in north Chennai, the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, on Wednesday ordered that top officials of Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas come and explain the steps taken by them to avoid any mishap. The Tribunal also directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to disclose the steps taken in consultation with oil companies.
Admitting an application filed by V. P. Krishnamoorthy of Old Washermenpet, the Bench, comprising Justice P. Jyothimani and Prof. R. Nagendran said, “This raises a very important issue of leakage of oil from the pipeline maintained by the oil companies in North Chennai.” Press reports had made a startling revelation that due to the leakage oil had mixed with drinking water.
“It appears that the State government, as well as the ministries concerned, are taking certain steps in consultation with the TNPCB for rectifying the defects as a temporary measure. It remains to be seen whether the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is taking steps to maintain the pipelines in a proper manner at least to avoid such leakage in future, since it involves a very important public issue,” they added.
Mr. Krishnamoorthy, the applicant, sought various reliefs, including a direction to oil companies to shift the pipelines running through densely populated areas in North Chennai and to immediately discontinue use of the present pipelines; and a direction to the TNPCB for initiating proceedings against oil companies for damage and violation.
He also sought a direction to 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. Residents had been agitating for a long time demanding that the pipelines be shifted from residential areas, but there was no action till date.
Terming the contamination as ‘dangerous’, Mr. Justice Jyothimani observed, “People are living in abysmal conditions amidst such pollution.”
The matter was posted for further hearing on August 2.
