Tamil Nadu All Farmers Associations Coordination Committee president P.R. Pandian has said that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) should provide adequate compensation to ryots affected by oil extraction process in their fields.
He was talking to media persons on Sunday after visiting an agricultural field at Keezha Erukkattur where the cotton crop cultivated in an acre was damaged by oil spill the previous day due to a crack in the ONGC pipeline.
Mr. Pandian claimed that several fertile agricultural lands in the region had been affected due to the oil extraction process carried out by the Corporation.
At Keezha Erukkattur, the Corporation should bear the expenses of clearing the soil and filling the field with new and fertile sand. It should also increase the depth of the existing pipeline from the present two feet to 10 feet.
Mr. Pandian welcomed the Madras High Court order, scrapping land acquisition for Chennai-Salem eight-lane project.
He urged the Centre and State governments not to go for an appeal against the order in the interests of affected farmers.