Oppn wants agri zone bill to be referred to select committee

Stalin and Deputy Opposition Leader Duraimurugan said that the opposition party was welcoming the Bill, but demanded certain corrections in it under which the existing projects can also be subjected to the jurisdiction of the Act.

Stalin also asked Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to explain the status of the Centre which has given permission for industries to extract oil and hydrocarbon in the Delta region.

Participating in the debate, Law Minister C Ve Shanmugham said, “It took just ten days for the state government led by CM Palaniswami to draft the Bill seeking protection of farmlands in Delta and any correction at the initial stage will lead to legal hurdles.” The Minister, who explained the nuances of the Bill said, “No person shall undertake any new project or new activity specified in the second schedule in the projected agricultural zone that included exploration, drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas, including coal-bed methane, shale gas and other similar hydrocarbons, copper, zinc and aluminum smelter, iron ore process plant, integrated steel plant and sponge iron plant, bone meal, processing of animal horn, hoofs and other body parts, besides tannery and ship breaking industry.”

To this, DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu wanted to know why there is no mention about factories that may pollute the Delta farmlands. The Bill fails to specify the derivatives of petrochemicals, fertiliser and pesticide companies, the DMK MLA said. To this, Law Minister Shanmugham said that the objective of the Act was to bring in a legal sanctity to protect the farmlands. “If required there can be omissions and inclusion in the Act, whenever the situation arises,” Shanmugham added. To a query, he said select districts were omitted from the list to protect existing local industries and livelihood.