The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has now written to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) seeking environmental clearance (EC) for drilling exploratory wells in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district, despite opposition by locals and even Chief Minister M K Stalin to an earlier similar proposal. The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had earlier invited bids for the development of oil and gas fields at Vadatheru, near Pudukkotai.
Several farmers had protested against the proposal in Vadatheru, prompting Chief Minister MK Stalin to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to intervene and inform the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to cancel the bidding process for Vadatheru in the Cauvery Basin.
