- Environmental clearance for 20 oil and gas exploratory wells near Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu has sparked widespread protests from fishers and farmers.
- While the state government insists that hydrocarbon projects will not be allowed in Tamil Nadu and the clearances will be revoked, residents of Ramanathapuram worry that without sustained public pressure, the promise might be reversed later.
- Environmentalists and researchers warn that drilling, even for exploratory wells could impact groundwater, soil fertility, and the fragile marine biodiversity of the region.
When the early morning sun glinted off the nets drying along Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram coast in late September, it illuminated a sight both familiar and defiant in the state’s environmental history: fishers and farmers standing shoulder to shoulder, holding placards against the latest attempt to drill beneath their land and sea. They were protesting against an environmental clearance issued by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which authorised the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to drill 20 exploratory wells in an offshore block, a designated area in the water, near Ramanathapuram district.
In the wake of the protests, the state government has asked the SEIAA to withdraw the clearance and the next course of action is awaited.
The clearance to ONGC was issued in March. As per usual practice, the project documents are supposed to be accessible to the public on platforms such as the Parivesh portal which displays environmental clearances for projects. But the documents for this project were not accessible say local activists and environmentalists. A few months later, in August, SEIAA formally posted the approval online which then drew immediate attention, leading to mass protests across Ramanathapuram and surrounding areas.
For the government, it was a technical approval. For the people of Ramanathapuram, it was a move against their soil, water, and survival as their livelihoods depend on the landscape. From Keezhakarai in the east to Mudukulathur in the west, fishers, farmers, priests, and students gathered in small but resolute assemblies. “Oil-free Tamil Nadu is our right!” read the placards they carried.
Following the protests, Tamil Nadu’s finance and environment minister Thangam Thennarasu announced that Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had “a firm policy position” against hydrocarbon exploration and has asked the SEIAA to withdraw the clearance. His party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), was once at the forefront of opposing such projects in the state.
So far, however, there has been no official announcement yet about the clearance being officially revoked. Local farmers, fishers, and environmental activists maintain their scepticism towards the government’s assurances, asserting that verbal commitments often wane as public attention wanes. Many fear that without sustained public pressure, the reversal might be delayed or quietly reversed later.
Impact on livelihoods
The exploratory oil wells were proposed in six taluks of Ramanathapuram — Thiruvadanai, Mudukulathur, Paramakudi, Keezhakarai, Kadaladi, and Ramanathapuram — and in the Devakottai taluk of neighbouring Sivaganga district. Each well would go as deep as 3,000 metres, according to SEIAA documents, with seismic surveys and heavy drilling equipment to precede exploration. The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, home to coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and endangered dugongs, lies just offshore. For fishers and farmers, the drilling plan came as a threat to their livelihoods.
In Keelachirupodhu, a village in Kadaladi, advocate P. Jaysankar was among the first to voice an alarm. “The government cannot pretend ignorance,” he said, standing before a crowd of farmers holding green flags. “…They have cleared drilling in our backyard, knowing it will poison our groundwater and destroy our crops. Once contaminated, our aquifers are gone forever.”
From Alagankulam, a small farmer S. Moorthy added, “Our fields already depend on borewells that run dry by March. If drilling and seismic blasting begin, we won’t even have drinking water. They talk of energy security, but what about food security?”
And in the nearby Sikkal village, a young farmer K. Sasikumar spoke about the “mixed signals” from the government. “They said no oil projects in the delta. But here they allow the same company, the same machines, and the same chemicals. We can’t fight climate change on the one hand and destroy our soil with the other.”
Fishers along the coast are equally anxious. “Seismic surveys kill plankton, and the sound waves drive fish away,” said J. Jesuraja, senior leader of the Tamil Nadu Meenavar Peravai, an association of fishers. “Our boats depend on near-shore catches — sardines, anchovies, shrimp — that breed in the seagrass beds. Once drilling starts, our nets will return empty.”
Mechanised boat owner K.M. Periasamy from Rameswaram fears even a minor leak could devastate the marine food chain. “The Gulf of Mannar is our granary. We don’t have factories or cities here; fishing is our life. If they drill, they’ll destroy the sea that feeds us.”
Impacts on biodiversity
The Gulf of Mannar, declared a biosphere reserve in 1989, covers 10,500 square kilometres and supports more than 4,000 marine species. Coral reefs and seagrass beds form its ecological backbone. The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust estimates that over 1.25 lakh people depend directly on the region’s marine resources. Coral cover is already reducing due to bleaching and pollution, and the local residents worry that the added stress from drilling could push the ecosystem beyond recovery.
Studies by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust have shown that even limited dredging, pollution, or sedimentation can cause long-term biodiversity decline. Marine biologists warn that exploratory drilling poses severe risks including noise pollution from airguns, accidental discharge of drilling muds, and hydrocarbon leaks that could irreversibly damage fragile habitats.
Jeyabaskaran R., a senior marine biologist at the Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI), explains that even the early stages of exploratory drilling can trigger lasting ecological disruption. “The process of drilling disturbs the seabed, releasing drilling muds laced with heavy metals that settle over coral beds and seagrass meadows. These sediments suffocate filter feeders such as sponges and molluscs and block sunlight essential for coral survival, leading to bleaching and large-scale mortality,” he said.
Even low levels of hydrocarbon residue can alter plankton communities — the foundation of the marine food web, Jeyabaskaran adds. “When plankton diversity declines, fish larvae survival drops sharply, jeopardising the livelihoods of thousands of artisanal fishers who depend on the Gulf of Mannar’s fragile near-shore ecosystems.”
Exploratory rigs require land clearance, roads, and large volumes of water. Drilling mud cuttings often contain heavy metals, and improper disposal can contaminate soil and groundwater. Marine seismic surveys, using airguns to blast sound through the seabed, disrupt fish migration and coral growth.
“Hydrocarbon exploration carries serious risks of groundwater contamination, soil fertility loss, and land subsidence — each potentially devastating for the long-term sustainability of our ecosystems and agriculture,” said Sultan Ahmed Ismail, who chaired the Tamil Nadu government’s Expert Committee on Hydrocarbon Projects in 2021.
“The delta is a living organism,” Ismail noted. “If you puncture it for gas, you change its hydrology. Water, soil, and microbes work in balance. Disturb that, and you destroy the base of food production.”
Another scientist, V. Sethuraman, the Vice-President of the Tamil Nadu Science Forum adds, “You cannot turn a granary into an oilfield. Hydrocarbon extraction will destroy soil health, contaminate aquifers, and cripple food security. The Centre’s hydrocarbon policy serves corporations, not farmers.”
Ramanathapuram’s inland agriculture is also in crisis. “Even without oil, our groundwater is sinking,” said Sasikumar. “Add drilling, and our soil will turn saline. Then nothing will grow.”
Jaysankar looked toward the horizon where the proposed rigs would rise. “This is not just about a few wells,” he said quietly. “It is about what kind of state we want to be — one that extracts or one that sustains.”
Politics of the delta
In Tamil Nadu, the hydrocarbon debate is inseparable from the politics. The ruling party — Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which once opposed such projects, now faces accusations of hypocrisy. As an opposition party in 2018, it had joined farmers protesting the Centre’s hydrocarbon push.
Current opposition parties call this exploration project a “calculated betrayal” of Tamil Nadu’s farmers, and state that it (the project) would “devastate the Gulf of Mannar and destroy fishermen’s livelihoods.” With the state elections due in 2026, the controversy has become a litmus test for the DMK’s environmental credibility.
Coastal activist Alagarsamy Pandi views the controversy as emblematic of Tamil Nadu’s developmental dilemma. “They call it exploration, not extraction. But for us, it’s the same story every time: promises of jobs, then pollution, then silence. The sea doesn’t stop at their borders, so why should protection?”
Pandi points to the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone (PAZ) Act, passed in 2020 after massive anti-hydrocarbon protests. The law prohibits drilling in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Pudukottai, but did not include Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga. “The exclusion was political, not scientific,” said advocate Jaysankar. “They wanted to appear green while keeping the door open for corporate projects.”
ONGC’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) lists standard safeguards, but environmentalists say that compliance is weak and monitoring is almost non-existent. K. Saravanan, an environmental policy researcher with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, said, “Most EIAs for onshore or near-shore drilling in Tamil Nadu rely on generic mitigation measures copied from other regions. In practice, there is minimal site-specific monitoring once the clearance is granted.” He adds that parameters such as sediment toxicity, underwater noise, and chemical discharge are rarely measured post-clearance. “The compliance reports that SEIAA or ONGC file are largely paperwork exercises with little field verification,” he adds.
Environmental activist and campaigner Piyush Manush, who has long opposed hydrocarbon extraction projects in the Kaveri and Ramnad regions, shared, “What we have seen repeatedly is that the safeguard clauses in EIAs look good on paper, but there’s no independent mechanism to verify if ONGC actually follows them. Local communities, who are most affected, have no access to baseline data or monitoring results. Without transparency, these safeguards are meaningless.”
“For us, every government change brings the same projects under new names,” said farmer Moorthy. “We are tired of living on borrowed time.”
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Banner image: A dried out agricultural field in Keelasiruputhu near Ramanathapuram, impacted by oil exploration in the region. Image by K.A. Shaji.
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