RAMANATHAPURAM
People of Valantharavai panchayat and at least 10 other villages have petitioned Collector S. Natarajan objecting to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) establishing a gas compressor station at Valantharavai and opposing Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) holding a public hearing in this connection at Sayalkudi.
Led by Valantharavai village leader K. Thirumurthy, a large number of people thronged the Collectorate here on Thursday and urged the Collector to restrain the IOC from setting up the compressor station and laying a pipeline for conveying natural gas from Ramanathapuram to Thoothukudi.
Stating that they were already facing sever pollution problems as four gas-based power plants were operated in the area, they said they had also given up agriculture as the groundwater level depleted.
Since a majority of the people, who would be affected by the project, lived in Valantharavai and nearby villages, there was no point in the TNPCB organising the public hearing 120 km away at Sayalkudi, they said, and appealed to Mr. Natarajan to ensure that the public hearing was organised either at Valantharavai or at the district headquarters.
The IOC has proposed to lay the pipe line for conveying Regasified Natural Gas (RNG) from Ramanathapuram to Thoothukudi with the gas compressor station at Valantharavai, T-junction station at Maravan Karisalkulam and the final station in Thoothukudi. The TNPCB has announced that the public hearing in this connection would be held at Sayalkudi on January 4.
