Water smells like fuel, ryots blame petro firm

“I noticed a mild smell of diesel from my well one month ago. This smell grew stronger and a large number of fish began to die over the last two days. We suspect the firm located a little distance away to have contaminated the groundwater,” said E Navaneeth, a farmer. He claimed that the coconut trees in his farm spread over in an area of 10.5 acres had begun to show signs of withering possibly due to ground water contamination. “The leaves in a sizable number of trees started to dry off suddenly. Those trees haven’t regained their normal growth despite use of fertilizers. I believe it could be an impact of water contamination,” he said. 

Following the issue, the staff of the petrochemical firm inspected the well and took samples for testing. However, farmers claimed that the move as a mere eyewash. When a similar issue happened in another nearby farm well owned by E Vijay Anand, the company’s authorities lifted similar water samples from the contaminated well, but later shot down the claims of fuel contamination. 

Following the issue, officials of Revenue Department and the VAO visited the well and confirmed the presence of fuel smell in the well. They have promised to take the issue to the knowledge of TNPCB for testing water samples to find out the exact nature of contamination for further action. Farmers’ bodies have threatened to protest if there is no official action.