The Union Government’s move to auction coal blocks in Cauvery Delta spread across the districts of Thanjavur, Cuddalore and Ariyalur has led to widespread protests and resentment from farmers, businessmen and industrialists in Tamil Nadu.
The Cauvery Delta region is known as the Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu and any move to explore, drill or extraction of oil and natural gas incusing coal bead methane shale gas would lead to irreparable damage to the environment and ecology, warned Chief Minister M K Stalin in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Out of the 101 blocks put up for auction across the country, three are in Tamil Nadu. The three blocks fall under the Cauvery Delta region which ha been declared as a Protected Agricultural Zone.
