Delta farmers and social activists have widely welcomed the State Government order denying sanctions to the Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited project for coal-bed methane exploration in the delta districts of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur.
At the same time, they have cautioned the State to act fast on the lurking shale gas exploration danger too in a similar vein.
Food and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister R. Kamaraj said the Chief Minister was always in the fore front in protecting the interests and welfare of farmers and public.
The order on methane exploration project was a reflection of her endeavours, the Minister representing Nannilam Assembly Constituency in Tiruvarur district said.
Reacting to the development, the Tamil Nadu Vivasyigal Sangam president and Chidambaram MLA K. Balakrishnan told The Hindu that the State government must take steps to ban all anti-farmer and anti-ecology industrial activity that adversely impacted the livelihood of the people of the delta region.
The entire delta must be declared a protected agricultural zone to ensure food security, he said and added that the GO was a laudable one.
While welcoming the Government Order on methane exploration project, General Secretary of the Tamizhaga Cauvery Farmers’ Association P.R. Pandian has pointed out that it followed a sustained and arduous struggle by all sections of society including the political parties of various hues.
The Chief Minister must order an interim stay on all ONGC investigations in delta as the investigations were mostly incomprehensible to farmers and no one knew whether the investigations pertain to petroleum, methane, or shale gas exploration.
Stating that the GO could be viewed as the first step towards the success of a “Save Delta Movement”, Mannargudi V. Sethuraman of the Tamil Nadu Science Forum recalled the intensity of the people’s spontaneous agitations against the methane project demanding its wholesale wounding up to protect delta farmers. No plausible reason could be adduced to implement the project in the delta districts and the GO only reflects the will of the people.
The State government must extend a similar treatment to the anti-people and anti-farmer shale gas exploration project and shelve the dangerous proposals that would benefit only a handful to the detriment of all sections, Mr. Sethuraman added.
