The Tamil Nadu government on Monday notified in the gazette the prohibition of certain industrial activities in certain districts in the Cauvery delta region that have been declared a Protected Special Agricultural Zone under the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, 2020.
The G.O. has prohibited new projects or activities such as zinc smelters, iron ore processing plants, integrated steel plants and sponge iron plants, copper and aluminium smelters, processing of bone meal, animal horns, hooves and other body parts, tanneries, exploration activities, drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas, including coal-based methane, shale gas and other hydrocarbons, and ship-breaking industry in the specified regions.
The districts and regions where such projects have been prohibited are Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and some blocks of Cuddalore and Pudukottai districts.