No methane study on Cauvery Delta: J Jayalalithaa
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Chennai: Responding to Cauvery delta farmers’ plea, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday put on hold the coal-bed methane (CBM) project proposed by Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL) for extracting methane in delta districts.
She ordered constitution of a committee comprising government officials and experts to conduct a study on the pros and cons of the project. She added consent would be given only if the state government was convinced that the project would not affect groundwater table and agricultural work.
“Action was necessitated after it was brought to my notice that GEECL has been conducting research to extract methane in the region. It has caused apprehensions among cultivators who feel it can lead to depletion of groundwater and affect agriculture,” Jayalalithaa said in a statement.
Farmers’ interest first: Jayalalithaa
Chennai: Chief minister Jayalalithaa asserted that the government would not give consent if it felt the project was causing even a minor damage to the rice bowl of the state and to its farmers.
“Hence, I have ordered setting up of a committee which will have representatives from Anna University, IIT-Madras, TN Agricultural University, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, besides officials from PWD, TNPCB and TIDCO.
Though the Union environment ministry has given its clearance, it is the TNPCB that has to give clearance for drilling deep wells. It has not given clearance to the applications by GEEC,” the CM said.
She referred to a few reports of GEECL on the project that said some of the chemicals used to extract coal bed methane were toxic, soluble in water and have radiation.
Detailing the initiatives taken at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore World Bank aid to save the region from seawater intrusion, she noted that there were chances of seawater entering farm lands due to climate change in addition to the recent doubts raised by farmers during public hearing meetings.
“Hence the coal bed methane project in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur can be allowed only after we are convinced that the project will not affect the farmers,” she said.
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