Konaseema Losing Its Charm Due to Pollution

Kakinada: The Konaseema district, the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh and known also as a mini-Kerala due to its verdant paddyfields and coconut plantations, is slowly losing its charm due to pollution and other factors.

Konaseema’s attractions are also its several horticultural crops like cocoa, banana and yam, among others. Set in the erstwhile East Godavari district, these give it a unique appeal. However, oil exploration activities, both offshore and onshore, and aquaculture are taking its toll on the region’s groundwater resources.

Frequent oil spills are contaminating the area. Groundwater salinity is affecting paddy and coconut cultivations. Another issue is the placement of explosives in bore wells during exploration for groundwater, often at depths of 200-600 feet. While one bore well is dug for every 100 square metres, the explosives are detonated sequentially. This process has disrupted the natural aquifer layers. This allowed deep saline aquifers to intermix with freshwater tables, resulting in irreversible groundwater pollution.

Notably, a few years ago, Jana Viznan Vedika district president E.R. Subrahmanyam, a Chemistry professor of SKBR College at Amalapuram, conducted a survey on the region’s salination. As per his assessment, nearly 890 sq-km out of Konaseema’s total area of 1,550.66 sq-km has already turned saline.

Subramaniam told Deccan Chronicle, “Some 275 villages have been directly impacted by contamination linked to natural gas explorations by Reliance, Cairn Energy and ONGC. There’s heavy land subsidence. Frequent oil spills are damaging the ecology and aquaculture is another major problem.”

He said, “While oil and gas worth crores are being excavated from the area and companies are paying crores as royalty to the Central government, there is no attempt yet to ensure economic development of Konaseema.”

The governments, he said, are not helping in the setting up of oil and gas-based industries, or in the door-to-door laying of pipelines for gas supply to homes, or in the modernisation of canals and regularisation of delta ayacut and others.

He also expressed concern over the “lack of interest” on the part of governments in completing the Konaseema railway line. “The release of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds is merely an eyewash, as this is not enough for the development of Konaseema,” he said.

Convener of the Bharatiya Agro Economic Research Centre - Andhra Pradesh, Tikkireddy Gopalakrishna, said the Konaseema region is in the grip of an unprecedented environmental and public health emergency. “These are primarily triggered by the exploratory drilling carried out by the oil and gas exploration agencies. Their operations have caused extensive groundwater contamination, severely impacting agriculture, public health and the overall ecological stability of the region.”

He requested Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan to take urgent steps to protect the region. “This is not merely an environmental issue. It creates scientific, agricultural, social and humanitarian crises, threatening the very foundation of a region once hailed as the Green Paradise of Andhra Pradesh.”