A total of 73 members and supporters of the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Forum were arrested at Budalur near here on Friday when they staged a rail roko agitation to highlight their charter of demands.
The Forum has been staging a continuous rail roko agitation for the past four days as part of its week-long struggle to demand among others immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board, withdrawal of the draft bill to constitute singular tribunal to hear and dispose of inter-State water disputes, prevent Karnataka from going ahead with Mekedatu reservoir, order Karnataka to abide by the Supreme Court order and release water, waiver of all loans taken by all sections of farmers, sanction ₹25,000 per acre to all drought-affected farmers as compensation, grant of ₹15,000 to each of the affected farm workers families and demanded a solatium of ₹15 lakh to the families of farmers who died of shock or committed suicide due to the agrarian crisis.
On the fifth day on Friday, protesters led by Forum Coordinator P. Maniyarasan and including cine director Kalanjiyam, Tamizhar Desiya Munnani general secretary Ayyanapuram Murugesan, anti-nuclear reactor activist SP Udayakumar squatted on the tracks to detain the Chennai-bound Cholan Express at Nahiyarpatti Railway Gate near Budalur before the police arrested 73 protesters.
