Oil spill in Nagapattinam coast | Fishers continue strike for fourth day, demand removal of pipelines 

While the leak in the pipeline, first observed on March 2, was plugged on the evening of March 5, the fishers have demanded the removal of the pipeline altogether; a peace meeting is to be held soon to attempt to resolve the issue  

For the fourth consecutive day, fishers of Pattinamcherry and its adjoining villages, continued their strike demanding that the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPC) remove its oil pipelines off the Nagapattinam coast.

On March 2, a leakage was observed in the 9-km pipeline off the Nagapattinam coast in Pattimancherry, a fisher’s hamlet. The pipeline was used to carry crude oil from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s Narimanam oil wells to the CPCL’s now-defunct second refinery at Nagapattinam.Workers of CPCL carried out repairs on the pipeline for three days and arrested the leak on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, fishermen from Pattinamcherry and its adjoining villages abstained from work for the fourth consecutive day and continued their strike on Monday. They demanded the removal of the pipelines from the vicinity and have planned to stage a road roko in front of the CPCL plant at Panankudi on March 8.

Nagapattinam Collector A. Arun Thamburaj inspected the spot and conducted talks with the fishermen. He told mediapersons that CPCL plugged the leak in the oil pipeline and will not pump oil through it until further instructions. A committee from the State government will inspect the spot where the oil leakage was observed.

The Revenue and Fisheries Departments have planned to conduct a peace meeting with the fishermen in the presence of CPCL officials. Sources among the fishermen said they would decide on a further course of action after the peace meeting.