Members of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam staged a protest in the city and Mettupalayam against the Kerala's move to build a dam across Siruvani.
The party's urban district secretary, R.R. Mohankumar, led the protests in the city, while his rural counterpart V. Eswaran in Mettupalayam.
Mr. Eswaran said the Kerala government was trying to tap water by building a dam. Kerala received around 2,000 tmcft every year. If it built the dam across the stream connecting Siruvani and Bhavani, it would be able to tap 20 TMC ft.
To receive such a negligible quantity of water, the Kerala government was trying to create disharmony between the two States and break the age-old understanding on sharing of water.
He challenged the Kerala government's claim that it would utilise the water to irrigate 25,000 acres in Attapadi. “Such an extent of land is not available for irrigation at the place,” he claimed and added that the dam if constructed would affect the city's water supply needs and irrigation needs of Tirupur and Erode.
Mr. Mohankumar said that the flow in the Pilloor Dam would be affected if the Kerala government constructed the dam.
The Tamil Nadu Manavar Kazhagam has said that its members would hold a protest in front of the Red Cross Building in the city on June 18.
In the city on Sunday, K. Ramakrishnan, general secretary, Periyar Dravida Kazhagam, said that the organisation had called for an all-party meeting for Monday at 4 p.m. at its office in Gandhipuram to decide on the strategy to be adopted to fight against the Kerala government's move to construct the dam.
