Tamil Nadu CM urges PM Modi to stop bids for extraction of hydrocarbon at Cauvery delta

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin penned a letter to PM Modi on Sunday urging him to intervene and instruct the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to cancel the bids for the extraction of hydrocarbon in the Vadatheru block of the Cauvery basin. In his letter to PM Modi, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin noted that projects to extract hydrocarbon from the Cauvery basin was opposed by various stakeholders and that the state government had opposed efforts of other state governments in this direction as the region played a pivotal role in the agrarian economy. 

Tamil Nadu CM Stalin urges PM Modi to intervene in hydrocarbon extraction project

In his letter addressed to PM Modi, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin noted that the Union Ministry for Petroleum & Gas had invited bids for the extraction of hydrocarbon in the area that has been declared as a 'Protective Agricultural Zone' by the government. CM Stalin highlighted that the area had been declared protected under the Tamil Nadu Agricultural zone Development Act 2020 and that the legislation prohibited new exploration, drilling and extraction of oil & natural gas and other such hydrocarbons. 

Tamil Nadu CM Stalin claimed that the Centre's invitation for the bids to extract hydrocarbon had ignited public agitation in Pudukottai and its neighbouring areas. CM Stalin further stated that the DMK government was opposed to any such projects to extract hydrocarbons from the Delta region and that such projects, if initiated, were violating the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Zone development Act 2020. Further, CM Stalin urged PM Modi to instruct the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to consult the Tamil Nadu government before auctioning for hydrocarbon exploration and extraction in the state.

('Centre's Hydrocarbon Pudukottai-North Street has been included in the project auction notice. It is the firm policy of the Government of Tamil Nadu that this project should not be allowed in any part of Tamil Nadu. I have insisted PM Modi intervene. Let's protect the eyelid as we protect the eyelid!' - CM Stalin wrote on Twitter)

Tamil Nadu CM Stalin urges Centre to ensure release of water from River Cauvery

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin on Friday wrote to Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat urging him to advise the Cauvery Water Management Authority to ensure the state gets its quota as per the Supreme Court order. Noting that the Cauvery delta region was Tamil Nadu's 'rice bowl', CM Stalin said that the Stanley reservoir in Mettur was the lifeline of the delta and that the state was dependent on it for agricultural production. CM Stalin pointed out that the floodgates at the Mettur dam were going to open on June 12 for irrigation in the delta region and said that it was being done so with the assumption that the state would receive its quantum of water from River Cauvery as per the SC order. 

In his letter to Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin said that the state was supposed to receive 9.19 TMC of water in June and 31.24 TMC in July. The Tamil Nadu CM noted that the delta region did not benefit much from the South-West monsoon and that the Kuruvai crops were totally dependent on the water continuously released from the reservoir. CM Stalin noted that any shortfall in the water released would severely impact the standing crop as well as the samba cultivation which is scheduled to begin from next month.