(TOI)
Hundreds of farmers along with leaders of various political parties resorted to a protest on Tuesday against the fresh extraction project by ONGC at Ammapettai in Thanjavur district. The farmers are opposing the 39 oil wells proposed to be explored by the ONGC to extract natural oil and gas from fertile land. A large number of villagers took out a rally as part of their protest. VCK leader Thirumavalavan, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan, Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi leader T Velmurugan, Manitha Neya Makkal Katchi leader MH Jawahirullah and Tamil Desiya Periyakkam leader P Maniarasan took part in the protest.
The villagers claimed that ONGC has proposed to establish 39 oil wells in Orathanadu and Papanasam areas and had already erected the first oil well at Maruvathur village in Theepambal panchayat near Ammapettai. As thousands of acres of agriculture lands had already turned infertile due to the ongoing oil extraction process, people from the 39 villagers protested against further extraction.
Earlier, the protesters led by the organiser of the protest K Thirunavukkarasu gathered at the Ammapettai bus stand and took out a rally towards Maruvathur oil well. They raised slogans demanding ONGC to vacate the village. They also insisted that all the activities carried out by ONGC be wound up. However, a strong posse of police deployed there intercepted the protesters midway and arrested 462 of them including the political leaders who participated in the protest. The arrested were released later in the evening.
