Chennai: Allaying apprehensions of the people and also attempting to take on political parties opposing the hydrocarbon project in Tamil Nadu, Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said the proposed project will not affect the groundwater or agriculture in the area.
“In the past weeks, concerns have been raised over the impact of the project on agriculture, soil condition in the region, contamination of ground water table, effect of Methane generation, etc. There is no scope for such apprehensions.
The project will only help to reduce India's oil imports,” Mr Dharmendra was said to have conveyed to Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan on Monday.
Ruling out any adverse effects on environment, he said the extraction of oil and gas from sub-surface is a well-established practice and the E&P industry uses state-of-the-art technology for the operations and takes maximum care for environmental effects.
The operators also get Environment Impact Assessment done before carrying out any drilling activities and other activities. His explanation follows a clarification sought by Mr Radhakrishnan who had raised the people's concerns and also the opposition to the project in TN, during his meeting.
Mr Dharmendra, informed him that the area around the project would develop and it would ensure jobs to over 500 persons. “The state government will also stand to gain,” he said and assured to hold public hearing. “Even after my assurance, if people still feel that this project is not needed, then the Centre would not implement it against the people's wishes,” he said and added that there was opposition only in Tamil Nadu whereas similar projects in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra have not seen any resistance from the people.
“Concerns about adverse environmental impact on nearby areas and also people living there are also misplaced, as all petroleum operations require prior environmental clearances from ministry of environmental and forest, wherein public hearing is an integral part of obtaining these clearances. Operators are required to follow strict environmental norms for the use of operational land,” he said.
