R. ARIVANANTHAM
SALEM, FEB 9
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced that the Government would enact a special law to declare the Cauvery delta region a protected agricultural zone so as to block the Centre’s proposal to establish hydrocarbon projects here on Sunday.
Laying the foundation for a 900-acre for the Advanced Institute for Integrated Research on Livestock and Animal Sciences (AIIRLIVAS) at Thalaivasal near Salem, Edappadi K. Palaniswami said the law would be drafted in consultation of experts and it would be adopted by the Assembly.
Allaying the fears of farmers that drilling oil and gas exploration wells for extraction of oil and methane gas in the fertile land will lead to seepage of sea water and depletion of groundwater, besides polluting the atmosphere, the Chief Minister said these hydrocarbon projects would never be allowed by the Government.
The farmers renewed their agitation after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) gave its nod to Vedanta last year for drilling 274 exploratory wells in the Bay of Bengal, Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam and Villupuram, Puducherry and Karaikal, as well as carry out seismic surveys in the hydrocarbon blocks.
Cairn Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, got the preliminary clearance to carry out an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for its proposed off-shore and on-shore oil and gas and appraisal projects in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Both TN and the Union Terrritory have opposed the proposed project.
Farmers’ association welcomes the announcement
The Chief Minister’s announcement was immediately welcomed by P.R. Pandian, General Secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association.
The association filed a petition in Supreme Court to withdraw hydrocarbon projects in Delta region immediately after the MoEF relaxed some clauses favouring the exploration firms last month.
Palaniswami lays foundation stone for AIIRLIVAS
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for the Advanced Institute for Integrated Research on Livestock and Animal Sciences (AIIRLIVAS) at Thalaivasal, Salem.
The AIIRLIVAS, being established at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore, will provide a further thrust to the livestock sector.
It has proposed to construct ten major complexes in the research station.
The Livestock farm complex will comprise indigenous cattle unit, sheep and goat unit, piggery unit, native dogs unit, animal quarantine and isolation facilities, farm veterinary hospital, clinical lab and poultry unit. The Institute, to be set up in a sprawling 900 acre area, comes in the backdrop of coronavirus and other zoonotic (animal to human) diseases like SARS and Ebola making global headlines. Official sources said, this advanced institute will focus on developing an advanced lab for zoonotic infections to diagnose new virus strains.
