Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi, a few other political parties, farmers and students’ organisations staged a protest here on Saturday against the Kerala Government’s move to construct a check dam across River Bhavani.
Led by TPDK general secretary K. Ramakrishnan and DMK leader Pongalur N. Palanisamy, the protesters formed a human chain on Nanjappa Road, Gandhipuram, and shouted slogans against the Kerala Government.
Mr. Ramakrishnan said that the Kerala Government should stop forthwith the work and the Tamil Nadu Government should intervene in the issue. If they failed to do so, political parties should march to Kerala on January 29 to stop the construction.
Meanwhile, the MDMK has written to the PWD Secretary asking how the department could say that no work was going on across the river when the party had photographic evidence. The Kerala Government floated tender for construction of a dam across the river in Padavayal. The tender was available online. The Kerala Government had also floated tender for the dam in Thekuvatai. The party’s Sate Youth Wing secretary V. Eswaran had also sought details on the quantity of water the Kerala Government tapped from the river and its tributaries and wanted to know if the projects the Kerala Government had proposed was for tapping water within the stipulations given by the Supreme Court in the Cauvery dispute.
