Tamil Nadu cancels notification on petrochemicals investment

CHENNAI: A day after the assembly passed TN Protected Agricultural Zone Development bill, the state government cancelled its notification issued in 2017 declaring 45 villages of Nagappatinam and Cuddalore districts as local planning area for constitution of "Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR)." The state had notified 22,939 hectares for the development of the region.
An order issued by housing and urban development department on Friday cited a letter from the director of town and country planning in December 2019, for the cancellation order. The director had stated that a lot of objections had been received from the public, vehemently opposing exploration and extraction of hydrocarbon and further demanding to declare the delta region as an Ecologically Sensitive Agricultural Zone. Cauvery basin, comprising Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and blocks of Pudukkottai, Cuddalore, Trichy, Karur and Ariyalur, is the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu.
"Any further exploration and exploitation, apart from such activity which already exist, may be detrimental to the environment of the sensitive zone," the director said, seeking the government to cancel the previous notification. The bill, passed this week, declared the entire Nagapattinam district and blocks of Cuddalore as protected zone. But the government has decided to cancel the PCPIR order for all 45 villages even as less than five villages of the protected zone in Cuddalore fall in the PCPIR region, sources said. The villages came under five taluks of Cuddalore, Bhuvanagiri, Chidambaram, Sirkali and Tarangampadi. The Centre approved the proposal of the TN government to establish PCPIR in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts in 2012. It was conceptualised in a cluster approach to promote the sector in an integrated and environment-friendly manner on a large scale. In a reply to Lok Sabha in December 2018, the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers stated that PCPIR, when established, was expected to attract investment of 92,500 crore. The state had reported that an investment of 8,100 crore was made on manufacturing and infrastructure development.
"There is no bar for Indian Oil Company's group firm, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL)'s 27,460 crore greenfield refinery in Nagapattinam and Haldia Petrochemicals Limited's Cuddalore complex, where investment of 50,000 crore is expected, as they do not fall under protected zone. These firms will depend on imported crude," an official said.