Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam (TPDK) has threatened to block all supplies from and through Tamil Nadu to Kerala if its government does not give up its proposal to construct a new dam across the Siruvani near Agali.
TPDK general secretary Ku. Ramakrishnan made this statement before he and representatives of various political parties and organisations were arrested by the Coimbatore police at the Maangarai check-post bordering Kerala when they tried to go to the village in Agali, where the dam is likely to be built.
According to Mr. Ramakrishnan, the team from Coimbatore wanted to have a look at the place and analyse the extent to which the proposed dam could affect Coimbatore and the nearby districts.
“Police told us that we were stopped for our safety as the Kerala police might arrest us and that the villagers there might also attack us,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said. The arrested persons included State and district representatives of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, Kongu Jananayaka Katchi, farmers and traders associations.
All-party meeting“As writing letters has not yielded results, the State government should call for an all-party meeting, discuss the issue and make a joint representation to the Prime Minister,” Puthiya Tamilagam founder K. Krishnasamy said after heading a protest in Coimbatore on Thursday.
He expressed shock over the permission granted by the Centre for the conducting an assessment for the construction of the dam. He said that no structure can be built across the Cauvery or its tributaries without the consent of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. “No permission has been obtained from the Tribunal,” he said.
Around 150 persons, including 30 women, took part in the protest. Close to 100 persons also participated in a protest organised by Uzhavar Uzhaipalar Katchi near Singanallur Uzhavar Sandhai.
Sensitising peopleThe Marumalarchi Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (MDMK) has started sensitising people to the impact of the proposed dam. “We are trying to involve people in the protests. Only then we will get justice,” the party’s State youth wing secretary, V. Eswaran, said.
According to him, the new dam would also make the long pending Avinashi-Athikadavu Groundwater Recharge Scheme meaningless. “Even if it is completed, we will not be getting water,” he said. Vehicle campaigns on street corners began at K.G. Chavadi on Wednesday evening and would continue over the next few days.
‘Brief Union ministers’PMK members have called upon the Union and Kerala governments to shelve the dam project as it would affect the riparian rights of the farmers in the downstream and create drinking water problems in the western districts of Tamil Nadu.
PMK State deputy secretary C. Vadivel Gounder said the Tamil Nadu government should take a delegation of farmers and industrialists to New Delhi and brief the Union Ministers of the issues that might arise if the dam comes up.
