DPR on petrochemical cluster in TN withdrawn following opposition

Nagapattinam: The Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn its Request for Proposal (RfP) for preparation of a Detailed Project Report for establishment of a petrochemical cluster in the state.The announcement, published as a corrigendum in newspapers, was welcomed by a farmers body and the PattaliMakkalKatchi.

Last month, the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Department's Trade and Investment Promotion Bureau (M-TIPB) had sought RfP for preparing DPRs for setting up an agro-industrial corridor, a common facilities centre for e-vehicle sector, a petrochemical cluster (in Nagapattinam District) besides establishing a common facilities centre for aerospace and defence sector in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu, for years have witnessed stiff opposition to initiatives aimed at exploration or extraction of oil and gas resources, be it shale gas or coalbed methane, especially in the state's Cauvery Delta districts. Government owned ONGC's initiatives in the delta region too continue to face such opposition.

"When we came to know about the RfP for petrochemical cluster (in Nagapattinam District), we constituted a struggle committee to fight against this move and announced a hunger strike on November 16," said President, TN Federation of All Farmers' Association, P R Pandian.Speaking to reporters at Mannargudi in Tiruvarur District, he said following this announcement, Nagapattinam Collector held talks with them and assured that the RfP would be taken back.

Now, the government has notified withdrawal of RfP for preparation of DPR for a petrochemical cluster and this is a "huge success for farmers," Pandian said.

PMK founder leader S Ramadoss welcomed the move and said his party had demanded that the government should not take steps that would defeat the purpose of declaring the Cauvery delta region a protected agricultural zone.

Last year, the AIADMK government had declared the delta region a protected farm zone under the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, 2020.

Ramadoss said the Indian Oil Corporation and Chennai Petroleum Corporation were setting up a big ticket Rs 31,580 crore refinery in Nagapattinam and the M-TIPB undertook initiatives towards establishing a petrochemical cluster in areas around that refinery.

If implemented, initiatives like a petrochemical cluster posed a threat of desertification of Cauvery delta districts and his party had all along opposed such efforts, he said.The PMK top leader urged the government to amend the 2020 Act to include petrochemicals and all other enterprises that posed a risk to agriculture in the second schedule.