The rice bowl of South India, the Cauvery Delta, has been simmering, with the gruel spilling over onto the gas-top, sometimes stoking the fire and sometimes dousing it. But the flickering tension remains because the Cauvery delta has been mapped to extract methane gas and hydrocarbon by using the method of hydraulic fracturing. The Centre’s decision to open up this fertile basin for exploration and production of natural gas to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has triggered protests from farmers, fisherfolk and green activists.
The Union government recently awarded three new hydrocarbon blocks in the Cauvery basin to ONGC and IOCL, which have proposed to drill 20 wells in Nagapattinam, Karaikal and Ramanathapuram. And, the Union Environment Ministry has set the ball rolling for studies before issuing environment clearance to drill 104 new hydrocarbon producing wells in 16 oil and gas fields falling under 11 blocks of the Cauvery basin area.
The fear is the traditional rice producing region is going to be truncated with gas wells and pipelines in place of irrigation canals, layering the food bowl with viscosity. This oil, as we learnt in chemistry books, is not water soluble, and will lead to ugly blobs on the fertile bed.
There are environmental issues that are staring us in the face. One, Pichavaram, which has an ecologically sensitive mangrove forest, is 0.49 km from an exploration block awarded to a Vedanta vertical. Two, four rivers, including the Cauvery, drain these areas. Three, the areas identified for exploration in the Bay of Bengal are cyclone-prone. And four, a few areas in the sea covered by these projects could become inaccessible for fishermen.
The delta is where the river meanders and splits into smaller streams, depositing silt and alluvium in the course of its journey to the sea, making the land very fertile. This region, therefore, is geographically gift-wrapped. The project, therefore, has triggered massive protest by farmers, who also fear possible chemical and radioactive contamination, apart from a major dent in their livelihood. Already, the water in the villages is yellowish with layers of oil over it. According to local communities, crude oil that spilled on farmlands contains benzene, xylene and toluene and other toxins. Benzene is a carcinogen and can contaminate groundwater reserves.
For years, environmentalists and farmers have been raising concerns over deforestation and illegal sand mining. Now, the extraction of fossil fuels along with methane, propane and butane has toppled the other two to gain prominence among their fear factor. Farmers’ organisations, irrespective of their political affiliations, have condemned the manner in which the project is implemented and decided to chart out different programmes to prevent it. They also claimed that the state government’s approval is mandatory, and hoped that the state would exercise caution. Recently, fishermen in Villupuram district joined the farmers in opposing it as they fear it could restrict their access to the sea.
The anxiety over the oil project also spilled over to the Assembly, with Opposition joining issue with farmers. Tamil Nadu Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam, however, allayed the fears, promising that the government would never ever allow this project in the state either in land or in offshore areas. This, despite the AIADMK being an ally of the BJP-led government in the Centre.
Saint and poet Thyagaraja had in his composition, Saari vedalina kaaverini joodare, called Cauvery a “mother” and said, during her journey to her Lord, the sea, she assumes multiple forms, where sometimes, she gushes in all her glory, and suddenly becomes a graceful and tranquil stream, encouraging cuckoos to sing as she meanders. The once bountiful river has now been reduced to a hotbed of dispute. It’s up to the policymakers and powers-that-be to restore its spendour with grace, humanity and magnanimity.