Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Bill, 2020
February 26 , 2020 1736 days 2980 0
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on February 20th introduced a bill in the state legislative assembly to declare the Cauvery Delta region in the state as a Protected Special Agriculture Zone.
The Bill received the assent of the State Governor Banwarilal Purohit within 24 hours of its passage (On February 21st) by the State Assembly.
The bill declares the Cauvery delta region a Protected Special Agriculture Zone (PSAZ).
The proposed PSAZ would comprise of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and five blocks each in Cuddalore and Pudukkottai districts.
However, the Bill excluded from its ambit Tiruchi, Ariyalur and Karur districts, which geographically fall within the Delta region.
The bill states that the government may add or omit any areas in the future.
The bill denies permission to any new chemical processing plants or hydrocarbon exploration in this region in the future.
The bill would not affect infrastructure developments in the protected agricultural zone such as harbour, pipelines, road, telecommunications, power, water supply and other utilities.
The government has identified zinc smelter, iron ore process plants, copper smelter, aluminium smelter, tannery, and ship breaking industries among others as industries that adversely affect agriculture developments in the PSAZ.
The Bill also sought to establish a 30-member Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Authority headed by the Chief Minister to advise the government on various measures to protect and improve farming activities to increase farm production and farm productivity to serve the interest of farmers.
PCPIR
The State government has cancelled the notification issued on July 19, 2017 declaring 45 villages of Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts as a long planning area for constitution of Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR).