AIADMK leaders must stop blaming the DMK: Thennarasu tells LoP

CHENNAI: State industries minister Thangam Thennarasu on Wednesday asked the AIADMK leaders, mainly Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami not to blame the DMK regime on the Methane extraction project after giving permission for Hydrocarbon projects.

Hitting out at EPS who accused the DMK of sanctioning the Methane project in the previous tenure, Thennarasu said that when the DMK was in power it had inked an agreement for the Rs 3,700 crore methane project capable of generating 1,700 jobs on January 4, 2011.

Clarifying that the MoU was signed to fetch additional revenue for the state through VAT, the minister, in an urgently convened press conference on late Wednesday evening at the state secretariat, said that a clause was included in the MoU that a detailed environmental impact assessment must be done for the project.

Accusing the then AIADMK regime of oppression on the farmers when the local farmers in Thanjavur resisted the project, the minister said that the AIADMK regime crushed their voice and unleashed oppression on the farmers, even arresting them.

Recalling the arrest of farmers in Neduvasal for protesting against the Hydrocarbon project, Thennarasu said that EPS was blaming the DMK regime after granting all permissions in the previous AIADMK regime. AIADMK leaders, particularly LoP Palaniswami must stop blaming the DMK regime to cover up all their mistakes.

"It is a fact that the previous AIADMK regime issued an order in 20I7 for scrapping the project only after the licence for the methane project expired. The EIA clause included in the agreement formed the basis for the AIADMK issuing a GO for scrapping the project. A committee chaired by the pollution control board chairman could be constituted then only because of the clause included in the MoU. The methane project was not implemented in Tamil Nadu till the DMK was in power.

"The then Chief Minister Karunanidhi had stated that the government would not allow any project detrimental to the people. The election manifesto of the DMK had also promised to scrap the project, " Thennarasu said, citing the permissions granted for the hydrocarbon projects in the subsequent AIADMK regime.