Villagers are not overly worried over the award of final contract by the Centre to a private contractor for tapping hydrocarbons under the discovered small fields policy in Pudukkottai District.

R Ramkumar, Coordinator of the protests at Neduvasal, one of the sites of prolonged agitations since February, said the award was one among a couple of dozen contracts at various locations.

The State government and the Centre have assured them that the project would not come up in Tamil Nadu where villagers have agitated against the project. The State government has also assured them that it would not clear project when it comes up for clearance.

After the Neduvasal protests last week, even those in Vadakadu and Nallandarkollai villages have been given assurance that the project will not be implemented in Pudukottai District, he said.

V Senthildas, a member of the agitation committee, said there are over 70-80 villages under the project site. All of them are against the project.

The contractor Gem Laboratories of Bengaluru will need over 30 clearances from the State government and the public assent of the villagers. This is not likely to happen. The villagers will keep a close watch at the proposed exploration and prospecting sites to ensure it does not come up.

Since February when the Centre cleared the discovered small fields projects for tapping hydrocarbons, the villagers in Pudukottai District launched an agitation against the project fearing environmental degradation, over exploitation of ground water and damage to farm lands.

The protestors have represented their case to the Tamil Nadu government and the Centre which assured them support.

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