Hundreds of vehicles proceeding to Kerala were stopped at the inter-State border near Pollachi since Thursday night following protests by farmers and a few political parties there demanding release of water from the Aliyar reservoir.
According to sources, the Coimbatore Rural Police stopped vehicles at the Gopalapuram, Govindapuram, Meenakshipuram and Nadupuni check posts as a precautionary measure. The vehicles stopped were mostly vegetable, milk and other daily needs. A few tourist vehicles were also stopped.
Schedule for release
The protest was to urge Tamil Nadu to release the remaining 1.75 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) water from the Aliyar reservoir as part of the inter-State agreement with Kerala. The former ought to release 7.25 tmc for 10 months, from July to April.
So far, Tamil Nadu had released 5.50 tmc of water. This year, the Parambikulam-Aliyar catchments received poor rains resulting in a meagre water level of 58.40 feet in the Aliyar reservoir. Given the poor water level, Tamil Nadu will release the water till the level reaches 38.40 feet in the reservoir. But this was necessary to meet the water needs on both sides of the border.
Sources said that after the police got reports that windshields of our lorries from Tamil Nadu were damaged in stone throwing near Athicode in Kerala, they stopped vehicular movement on this side of the border.
Tamil Nadu Dravidar Kazhagam members, led by Ka. Su. Nagarajan, staged a protest near Pollachi. The protesters wanted that all Kerala registered vehicles be denied entry into the State.
Tension on both sides of the border led to a 4-km pile up of vehicles.
No disruption
Vegetables sent from Coimbatore went to Kerala without any disruption, said M. Rajendran, president of Thyagi Kumaran Market Vegetable Traders’ Association. However, vegetables from Pollachi, Oddanchathiram, etc that pass through Velandavalam and Meenatchipuram are have been stopped. and continue to face problems.
About 100 loads of vegetables move from Coimbatore to Kerala every day and it is about 200 loads if the vegetables lifted from places such as Mettupalayam, Karamadai, etc are taken into account. If the protest by farmers in Kerala gains momentum, the entire vegetable movement might get affected, he said.
