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Udupi: The proposed II phase work of the strategic crude oil reserve at Padur by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL) has left the locals sleepless.
 
The project requires 600 acres of land. In the first phase, the Oil Industry Development Board ( OIDB) constructed an underground rock cavern for storage of 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil to meet the needs in times of disruption in external supply.
 
The other oil reserves of the country are in Vishakapatnam with a storage capacity of 1.33 MMT and in Permude (Mangalore) with storage capacity of 1.5 MMT. The recent statement of Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Panabaka Lakshmi that the II phase project by ISPRL will be initiated in Padur has brought a sense fear among villagers.
 
Sources told TOI that a feasibility study report on the II phase of the project has been already sent by a team of engineers to the central government six months ago and once the government gives approval, the land acquisition process will be initiated.
 
Payyaru Shivaram Shetty, advisor to the Padur-Kalatthoor People’s Awareness committee, told TOI that villagers forced a team that had come to Padur in 2011 to carry out survey of land in Padur and Kalatthoor villages for the II phase of oil reserve project to go back. About 7,000 villagers protested against the move as they feared that 300 acres land in Padur and another 300 acres land in Kalatthoor, which are fertile, will be acquired for the project. Villagers are all set to protest against the project which aims to store 5 MMT of crude oil, he added.
 
Narayan Tantri, a resident of Kural in Padur village, said he has two acres of paddy field and another half acre of coconut and arecanut plantation which he fears will be acquired for the project. The district administration is keeping the villagers in the dark on the project. Since two years, all residents in Padur village are facing severe drinking water shortage as water aquifers were damaged during the process of blasting of rocks,’ he added.
 
Stanly Corda of Shanthigudde in Padur said he fears to lose his jasmine and arecanut crops and said he will not allow his fertile land to be acquired.
 
There is also fear among people in seven villages in Udupi taluk and 17 villages in Mangalore taluk as fertile land is required for laying pipeline which too has attracted the villagers’ ire.