The proposed 17- km crude oil pipeline of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) from Chennai Port to Manali refinery faced stiff opposition from fishermen during a public hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing, chaired by Thiruvallur Collector Asish Chatterjee and convened by district environmental engineer M Paneerselvam, was attended by more than 1,500 people, according to official sources.
The earlier hearing on August 24 too had similar voices of dissent.
Lack of adequate safety mechanisms, threat to livelihood, fear of displacement and possible pollution of the ground water table were the main concerns raised by fishermen’s associations.
The meeting began on a stormy note with fishermen waving placards to flag their opposition to the project.
J Kosumani, president of Tamil Nadu Meenavar Makkal Sangam, alleged that in spite of an MoU signed between CPCL and Chennai Port on May 20, 2003, the authorities were yet to issue environmental clearance.
He expressed fear that the pipeline would be vulnerable during tsunami.
He also alleged that CPCL lacked disaster management ability to handle any leak from the oil pipeline.
M D Thayalan of the Indian Fisherman Association said that the pipeline would shrink the fishing settlement and could also result in hampering fishermen’s access to the sea due to high security to ensure safety of the pipeline.
“We as fishermen oppose the project,” he said.
Allaying fears, the CPCL assured adequate safety measures for the pipeline, which will be laid at a depth of five feet along the berm of the Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project.
CPCL general manager V Srinivasan told reporters after the hearing that the pipeline would be equipped with a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for efficient monitoring and control of the entire network from the master control centre (MCC).
The system would also facilitate display of operational parameters, alarms on the entire pipeline to check the pipeline integrity through leak detection software and emergency shutdown of entire pipeline from MCC.
He said the `126-crore pipeline would be laid in the service lane of the new road and would not have any impact on habitations.
“We won’t displace any habitations,” he assured.
It would have a thickness of 12.
5 mm, much higher than the required thickness to improve safety.
The pipeline could withstand earthquake of seismic zone III level.
The project was recommended by the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority for coastal regulation zone clearance from the ministry of environment and forest in 2010, he added.
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