NAGAPATTINAM: Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) has been directed to dismantle its underwater crude oil pipeline off the Nagapattinam coast, which caused a series of leaks earlier this month, by May 31 this year. The district administration issued the direction following a stakeholders’ meeting it convened with CPCL and the local fisherfolk on Thursday.
Following the 9-kilometre-long oil pipeline leaking at least four times since March 2 before the leakage was plugged, the fisherfolk in Nagore Pattinacherry and others in Nagapattinam taluk sought for the “old and unsafe” pipeline’s removal from the vicinity. Against this backdrop, the district administration convened a meeting at the office of the joint director of the fisheries department in Nagapattinam on Thursday to seek CPCL’s views on decommissioning the pipeline.
To this, CPCL said it will take at least five to six months to remove the pipeline completely from Nagore Pattinacherry and Samanthampettai villages. The fisherfolk, however, remained firm in their demand to have it removed sooner.
The representatives from Nagapattinam taluk such as Nagore Melapattinacheri, Nagore Keelapattinacheri, Samanthampettai, Nambiyar Nagar, Akkaraipettai, Keechankuppam and Kallar, who participated in the meeting, demanded to remove the pipeline by May-end. They wanted the decommissioning work to be carried out before they put out to sea after the annual fishing ban from April 15 to June 14.
P Ganesan, a representative from Akkaraipettai, said, “We would like to stress here that our fish catch is so far safe to consume and has not been poisoned by the oil spillage.” Since the last instance of leakage on March 10, CPCL has put its ‘reverse flushing process’ in the oil pipeline in question on hold. It was decided during the meeting that CPCL should seek necessary permission from the district administration and the fisherfolk representatives in Nagapattinam taluk prior to clearing the pipeline. The next meeting has been called for on April 18 to learn the progress of the pipeline decommissioning.