Farmers flay Centre for awarding hydrocarbon contracts

ONGC, Vedanta among the winners

PUDUKOTTAI, TAMIL NADU, 14/03/2017: Public having a look at the natural gas extraction project by ONGC at Karunallandarkollai Village near Neduvasal in Pudukottai District. Photo: A. Muralitharan

Farmers’ organisations have voiced opposition to the Centre’s latest move allowing exploration of hydrocarbon in three blocks in Tamil Nadu. They have expressed apprehension that the move risks rendering the Cauvery delta a desert and jeopardising food security.

The agreements for the contracts awarded under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) Bid Round - I for hydrocarbon exploration in 55 blocks across the country were signed in the presence of Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi on Monday. The contract for one of the blocks in Tamil Nadu was awarded to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, while Vedanta Limited bagged the contracts for two Cauvery offshore blocks in the State.

‘Dangerous move’

Describing the move as dangerous, the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association called for a review of the decision. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been obsessed with development, but the development that he is planning is threatening the food security of the country,” said Mannargudi S. Ranganathan, general secretary of the association. The country’s food security depended on the eastern coast, where the deltas of almost all the rivers flowing from the west to the east were situated. While tapping oil and natural gas may not harm agriculture, extraction of coal bed methane and shell gas would be dangerous, he said. “A blanket licence to explore hydrocarbons, including coal bed methane and shale gas, will immediately threaten the ground water resources of peninsular India. The food security of Tamil Nadu will be totally destroyed. It may help [bring about] a marginal reduction in the oil import bill; but the import bill to keep the people free from hunger will increase manifold,” he said.

The Tamizhaga Cauvery Farmers’ Association called for a black flag protest during Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s visit to Tiruvarur on Wednesday.

“The Centre should immediately withdraw the move and declare the Cauvery delta as a protected agricultural zone,” said P.R. Pandian, general secretary of the association.

PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss warned that the Centre will have to face large-scale protests in Tamil Nadu if it implemented the proposed hydrocarbon projects in three zones in the State.