Heeding the call of the farmers and agricultural wings of the Left parties, thousands of cadres of belonging to several Opposition parties joined hands to stage road and rail rokos in the central districts on Friday demanding release of water in Cauvery by Karnataka for samba paddy cultivation.
Nearly 9,000 persons, including about 1,500 women, were taken into custody and released later in the evening. The stir call given by the farmers and farm labourers associations of the CPI and CPI (M) was supported by major Opposition parties including the DMK, MDMK, Tamil Maanila Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Farmers' and Toilers' Party and some other organisations.
While 2,876 people, including 226 women, were arrested after staging road roko in 62 places in Thanjavur district, police rounded up 2,715 people including around 480 women who staged protests in 55 places across Tiruvarur district while more than 1,350 protesters were secured in 44 spots in Nagapattinam district as part of the stir.
In Tiruchi, the protestors took out a march to the Railway Junction and some of them managed to sneak in and attempted to block the Coimbatore – Mayiladuthurai Jan Shatabdhi express. Security personnel evicted the protestors from the track. About 390 protestors were arrested in the city and four other places in Tiruchi district. In neighbouring Pudukottai district, road rokos were held at six places and over 230 protestors were arrested. The farmers demands included immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee as per the mandate of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.
The Centre must impress on Karnataka to release water for the delta farmers to take up at least samba paddy cultivation this season and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa must convene an all party meeting and lead a delegation to New Delhi to press Prime Minister Narendra Modi and get water from Karnataka, they demanded.
In Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam State general secretary V. Duraimanikkam, CPI (M)-affiliated Vivasayigal Sangam’s state vice-president K. Mohammed Ali, and former Union Minister S.S. Palanimanikkam of the DMK, participated in the road roko near the Old Bus Stand. The protesters burnt an effigy of the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and Union Minister Sadananda Gowda for denying water to Tamil Nadu.