Naidu asks Pradhan to get GSPC to pay farmers' dues

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has written to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, complaining about Gujarat government firm GSPC not paying compensation to fishermen affected by its pipeline laying work in KG basin.

Days after his party TDP quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, Naidu on March 24 wrote to Pradhan about pending compensation to the affected fishermen.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), he said, had conducted offshore drilling in its KG basin block in the Bay of Bengal as well as laid pipeline from the drilling site to the shore.

The state government had in 2012 laid down norms for identification of affected villages and families due to obstruction caused by laying of the pipeline work.

As many as 16,554 families were identified and Rs 6,750 per month was payable to each affected fisherman till completion of drilling work of GSPC, he said.

"Accordingly, the GSPC has paid an amount of Rs 66.88 crore towards the compensation for 16,514 affected families for a period of six months," Naidu wrote.

But, they were not compensated for seven months when the pipeline was laid.

"Further, you are informed that the affected fishermen families have represented that the laying of pipeline work had been carried out for a further period of seven months and the compensation payable towards the additional seven months period @Rs 6,750 per month per family is pending from GSPC since past several years," he said.

Naidu asked Pradhan to take a personal interest in the matter and "consider the request of the downtrodden traditional poor fisher families for payment of the amount payable to them for a period of 7 months as they have lost livelihood due to GSPC".

GSPC, a Gujarat government firm, had drilled six wells and associated production facilities since making a gas discovery on the KG-OSN-2001/3 or Deen Dayal West (DDW) block located in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in 2005. Natural gas production from the field started in April 2016.

Last year, the company sold its 80 per cent interest in the block to state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) for USD 1.2 billion.