CHENNAI/SALEM/THANJAVUR/TIRUVARUR: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exclude three coal/lignite mining blocks located in the state’s Cauvery delta region from the proposed coal block auction by the union government.
In a letter to the PM, the CM said the state government was not consulted by the centre and demanded the PM’s urgent intervention in the issue.
The CM’s letter came on a day when the news about the union government’s decision sparked widespread anger in the state, particularly among farmers of the delta region. Stalin said the delta region is protected under the Tamil Nadu Protected Agriculture Zone Development Act of 2020. “This implies that even if the tender process is conducted and a successful bidder is identified, it would not be possible to take up the mining project.”
“Had the state government been consulted before the notification was issued, these issues could have been clarified and the unnecessary disquiet caused by the auction notification could have been avoided,” Stalin said.
The three mining blocks identified in the state, as part of over 100 sites across the country, are at Michaelpatti in Udayarpalayam taluk of Ariyalur district, East of Sethiathope in Bhuvanagiri taluk of Cuddalore district, and Vadaseri in Orathanadu taluk of Thanjavur district.
‘The mining project would lead to desertification and displace people’
While two sites, East of Sethiapuram and Vadaserri, fall within the protected agricultural zone of the Tamil Nadu Act, the Michaelpatti block is part of a major paddy-growing area of the fertile Cauvery delta. Elaborating on the provisions of the state law, the CM said,
“Under Section 4 (1) of the Act, no person shall undertake any new project or new activity specified in the second schedule in the protected agricultural zone. The projects covered in the second schedule of the act include exploration, drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas including coal-bed methane, shale gas, and other similar hydrocarbons.”
“If allowed, the mining project would lead to desertification and groundwater depletion, and would affect the fertility of the soil and lead to the displacement of people,” PR Pandian, a farmers ’ leader, said in a statement. Parties including the CPM and the PMK have strongly opposed the proposed auction in Tamil Nadu. Activists had earlier alleged that hydraulic fracturing of the area to extract methane could impact the oxygen intake of plants, and water, which will be extracted to get the methane out, would have high sodium and metal content that could harm agriculture.
Meanwhile, ministers MRK Panneerselvam (agriculture) and Udhayanidhi Stalin (youth welfare) also gave assurances that such mining projects would not be allowed.PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the government to make an announcement in this regard in the ongoing assembly session. V Sethuraman, the coordinator of the environmental sub-committee of Tamil Nadu Science Forum, said the tender document clearly said the successful bidder could use the coal/lignite for any purposes including coal gasification, coal liquefaction and if there is the presence of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in the mine, the bidder can also commercially exploit it.
P R Pandian, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Cauvery farmers association, has already launched a campaign against the Vadaseri lignite block and led a protest at Ullikkottai on Tuesday evening. He said if coal mining is permitted in the heart of the Cauvery delta, where paddy is cultivated thrice a year, farmers would become refugees.
In the first phase, 25,000 acres of fertile land would be acquired and reduced as waste after mining. Hence, the union government must withdraw the notification, he said. Sami Natarajan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, also called for the withdrawal of the notification and warned of a series of agitations if the project is not scrapped.
CM: Centre should have consulted TN
Delta region is protected under Tamil Nadu Protected Agriculture Zone Development Act of 2020. “Even if the tender process is conducted and a bidder is identified, it would not be possible to take up the mining project,” CM said in his letter to the PM.