The Hindu
The Anti-Methane Project Movement on Monday demanded that all old oil wells in delta districts be shut down and sealed.
In a statement, the Movement’s chief coordinator, T. Jayaraman, said that panic had gripped the residents of Periyakudi in Senthamangalam Village Panchayat in Tiruvarur district following leakage of gas from an old oil well. This well and others in the region were shut down in 2013 when gas leaks were noticed.
Claiming that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation had not plugged the old oil wells scientifically, Mr. Jayaraman said the oil major gave an assurance to Tiruvarur Collector in 2022 that the wells would be sealed permanently before June 2023. However, leaks from the oil wells in the district had become a recurrent event.
He also put forth a set of demands to the Tamil Nadu government which included ensuring that delta districts truly remained a Protected Agriculture Zone, release of Sultan Ismail Committee report on the impact of oil and natural gas extraction activities and declaring all districts in Cauvery Basin as Protected Agriculture Zone.
