Petroleum minister meets Neduvasal villagers delegation

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, along with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Radhakrishnan met with a delegation from Neduvasal village in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

All the three Ministers assured the delegation that Government will not carry out any E&P activities without addressing all concerns and taking onboard the local villagers, State Government and all other relevant stakeholders It was decided that dialogue would continue with local people with the involvement of government officials to dispel all apprehensions of the local people of Neduvasal village.

The Ministers had heard the concerns of the delegation regarding the possible adverse impact of E&P activities on DSF Neduvasal Block inPudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu.

Detailed deliberations were held on the likely impact of E&P activities on agriculture, ground water, local habitation and environment. Referring to the concerns about the impact of the project, the Officials from explained that the extraction of oil and gas from sub-surface is a well-established practice and the drilling and production processes require very limited surface area and would not

affect agriculture.