The State Government would take a call on the demand of the fishermen to remove the oil pipelines owned by the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) from Pattinamcherry off the Nagapattinam coast, said Environment Minister Siva. V. Meyyanathan here on Wednesday.
After visiting Pattinamcherry, a coastal hamlet near here, to take stock of the oil spills in the sea, Mr. Meyyanathan told journalists that the leakage observed in the oil pipeline on March 2 was plugged completely by the CPCL workers on Sunday. Three scientists from the Environment Department and officials from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had already visited the spot to study the environmental impact of the oil spills in the sea. Samples of the seawater along the coast of Nagapattinam near Pattinamcherry had been collected and sent them to a laboratory for examination, said the Minister and added that the government would serve a show cause notice to the CPCL.
He said the demand of the fishermen from Pattinamcherry and its adjoining villages to remove the pipelines from the vicinity would be considered by the State Government. Steps would be taken to explore the possibilities of constructing a wall near the shore to prevent coastal erosion.
On March 2, a leakage was observed in the nine-km long pipeline that used to carry crude from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s Narimanam oil wells to CPCL’s now-defunct second refinery at Nagapattinam. Workers of CPCL carried out repairs in the pipeline for three days and arrested the leak on Sunday evening.
