VISAKHAPATNAM: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) calls on the Andhra Pradesh government to desist from acquiring a large extent of land along the coast in Ulavapadu mandal of Kandukur division in Nellore district for a project by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Pursuing this project would result in massive livelihood devastation in the area.
Following recent media reports that the government plans to set up a 9 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) oil refinery-cum-petrochemical complex by BPCL on 6,000 acres and acquire an additional 10,000 acres for the project’s purported expansion, a fact-finding team from HRF, Rashtra Chenatha Jana Samakhya (RCJS), and Matsyakara Sangam visited the area.
The HRF team, comprising V S Krishna, Y Rajesh, G Rohith, M Mohan Rao from RCJS, and P Durga Rao from Matsyakara Sangam, spoke with residents of eight villages in three panchayats (Karedu, Chakicherla, and Peddapattapupalem) in Ulavapadu mandal.
All villages lie on a strip of land between the sea and National Highway 16, with the Manneru River as a boundary to the north and Ramayapatnam Port to the south.
The team primarily spoke with farmers, farm laborers, fishers (known locally as pattapollu and pallekaarulu), and members of the Yanadi Scheduled Tribe community who reside in many villages and habitations in the area.
The predominant sources of livelihood in the three panchayats are farming and fishing. Farming is thriving, as the region has abundant water sources, with groundwater available from borewells at even 15 feet. The local Karedu tank irrigates over 1,300 acres and also serves as a fishing source for pallekaarulu and Yanadis in the area. Several other tanks, including Seetamma Cheruvu, Kotha Cheruvu, Gokula Cheruvu, and Jammula Cheruvu, support farming and help maintain a healthy water table. Each of these tanks irrigates 300-350 acres, primarily used for paddy cultivation. Most residents in the area, including fishers from the pattapollu and pallekaarulu communities, engage in farming, growing paddy, groundnut, cotton, pulses, and various vegetables. Some villages, like China Chakicherla, rely exclusively on fishing, while most residents of Pedapattapupalem also fish in the sea, the HRF team observed.
Unsurprisingly, the local people the team met were uniformly and firmly against the project. They stated emphatically that a petrochemical project in the area, with the attendant land acquisition and inevitable pollution, would irreversibly disrupt their economic lives and completely destroy their means of livelihood. In several villages, there was widespread anger and fear that they would also be physically displaced, the HRF team noted.
Local residents also expressed concern over occasional government-led surveys, including drone deployments. They stated that they had not been informed about the project in any manner and that the entire process was shrouded in secrecy. Since reports of the BPCL petrochemical proposal began appearing in the media, local residents have collectively voiced their opposition. Fisherfolk from several villages passed a resolution against the project at a meeting in Alagayapalem on February 14.
Given the reports, even considering acquiring such vast tracts of land—6,000 acres plus an additional 10,000 acres for expansion—for a 9 mmtpa petrochemical refinery and complex is highly objectionable. For comparison, the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) Manali project in Tamil Nadu, with a 10 mmtpa capacity, occupies only 800 acres. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) unit in Visakhapatnam, with a capacity of 15 mmtpa, is spread across just 900 acres. The 15 mmtpa refinery-cum-petrochemical complex of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Paradip in Odisha occupies 3,350 acres. The reported land requirement (including expansion) for the BPCL proposal along the Ulavapadu coast is, therefore, outrageous. Why must such a vast area of land be acquired at such an evidently high cost to people’s lives and future?
