AP High Court seeks study on subsidence around KG basin

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad,June 29: The AP High Court on Monday directed the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to find out whether there is any possibility of land subsidence due to exploration of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin. A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Anil Ramesh Dave and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was dealing with a petition filed by the Krishna Godavari Delta Parirakshana Samiti represented by Mr Vijay Bangar Raju and Prof Krishna Rao from West Godavari.

The petitioners said the law requires all the oil companies to inform about the probability of land subsidence and the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the MoEF has to scrutinise the applications and look into details and suggest mitigation measures.

They also placed evidence before the court to prove that land subsidence is common where ever natural gas exploration has taken place.
The petitioner wanted to know why the Directorate of Hydrocarbons did not bother to look into this aspect with reference to the KG basin.

The petitioners apprehended that unless mitigation measures are taken, submergence of the fertile Godavari delta due land subsidence cannot be ruled out. The bench felt that there is a need to conduct a field study to ascertain the ground reality. The bench granted four months to the MoEF to complete the study and permitted the petitioners to submit evidence to the EAC. The case will be listed after four-and-half months for submission of the report.