Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar on Saturday led a delegation to New Delhi and handed over Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s letter to Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Dharmendra Pradhan urging the Centre not to sanction any project without State government’s consent in the Cauvery delta region.
Mr. Palaniswami, who announced that the Cauvery delta regions would made be a “Protected Agricultural Zone” a few days ago, said, “The Government of India should drop any future plans for the exploration as well as mining of hydrocarbons in the ecologically sensitive agricultural Cauvery delta region. It should be excluded from any exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in future,” the letter said.
The Chief Minister said that apart from the proposed coal-based methane projects occupying 4,266 acres of cultivable land and pumping out of 1,00,000 kilo litres of groundwater daily for the next 25 years, they could pose danger to cultural heritage sites such as Brahadeeswarar Temple, Navagraha temples, Velankanni church and the Nagore Dargah.
The State government was in the process of declaring the delta region as “Ecologically Sensitive Agricultural Zone” and sought the Centre’s support in this, Mr. Palaniswami added.
