Nagapattinam oil spill case: Chennai Petroleum to remove pipelines before May 31

Chennai, March 16 (IANS) The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) will remove all the underwater pipelines which have been laid in Pattinamcherry of the Nagapattinam coast before May 31.

The decision has come after a peace meet on Thursday which was held in the aftermath of a leak in the nine-km long pipeline owned by the CPCL off the Nagapattinam coast on March 2.

The meeting was held by Nagapattinam district administration at the office of the Joint Director of Fisheries and fishermen's welfare in which representatives of fishermen from seven coastal villages in and around Nagapattinam participated.

This includes fishermen from Akkaraipettai, Keechankuppam, Melapattinamcherry, Keezhapattinamcherry, Nambiyar Nagar, Saamandhanpettai and Kallar participated. Officials from Revenue, Fisheries, State Pollution Control Board, Police, and CPCL also attended the meeting.

The leakage was reported in pipelines that were used to carry oil from the Narimanam oil well of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to the now defunct second refinery of CPCL at Nagapattinam. The fishermen of Nagapattinam and surrounding areas had refrained from venturing out into the sea after an oil spill was detected in the sea. The oil leak was plugged on March 5.

In the meeting, the CPCL officials said that it would carry out reverse flushing to clean the oil pipelines. This will be done after providing prior intimation to the district administration, fisheries, police department, and fishermen.

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