TIRUNELVELI
‘Tamirabarani Satyagraha’, which has been started against giving the river water to soft drink units at Gangaikondan Industrial Promotion Centre, will continue till the agreement on giving a huge quantity of ‘raw material’ at a throwaway price is cancelled, G. Ramakrishnan, State secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) has announced.
Speaking at the protest venue on the banks of the Tamirabarani in Sindhupoondurai on Monday evening, Mr. Ramakrishnan said 33 lakh litre of Tamirabarani water was being given to the franchisees of Pepsi and Coke at a rate of ₹37 per 1,000 litre. Besides manufacturing soft drinks, these units were producing pacikaged water even as people of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar districts were running from pillar to post for drinking water.
Farming had been seriously affected as there was no water for irrigation in the river due to monsoon failure. At a time when there was no surplus water in the river, the State government filed an affidavit with “false information” that made the court to decide in favour of revival of supply of Tamirabarani water to the cola units.
“The CPI (M) will continue ‘Tamirabarani Sathyagraha’ till the agreement the State government had signed with the bottling units is scrapped,” Mr. Ramakrishnan announced.
Party’s senior leaders and office-bearers will continue the agitation under the shamiana erected on the riverbank till the demand is met.
Mr. Ramakrishnan said the unprecedented drought prevailing across the State had ended the lives of more than 400 farmers who had committed suicide or died of shock. The CPI (M) had demanded ₹25,000 as compensation per acre and the State government had appealed to the Centre to release ₹39,000 crore for drought relief, but the Union government had released a meagre amount.
“The drought is a natural calamity. Hence, the Centre should release sufficient funds to bail out Tamil Nadu from this situation,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said.
