Chennai, March 5 -- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday strongly objected to the Union government's notification for the auctioning of a Petroleum and Natural Gas block in the Cauvery Basin falling under the Gulf of Manna Biosphere Reserve, saying that such a project "endangers a fragile ecosystem."

Seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the auction of over nine thousand square kilometres of the basin, CM Stalin wrote in a post on X, "The GoI's auction notification for petroleum and natural gas exploration in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve endangers a fragile marine ecosystem and the livelihoods of lakhs of fishermen."

He further alleged that the Tamil Nadu state government was not consulted be...