Dams across Bhavani: Parties stage stir near Kerala border

They want Panneerselvam to raise the issue with PM Modi, stop the projects

Cadre from parties raising slogans at Anaikatti, near the Kerala border, in protest against the move to build dams across the Bhavani river.

Around 1,000 cadre of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi (KJK) and other outfits staged a protest near the Kerala border in Anaikatti on Sunday, against the Kerala government’s move to construct check dams across the Bhavani river.

The former DMK Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, TPDK leader Ku. Ramakrishnan and KJK leader G.K. Nagarajan led their respective party cadre at the protest. When they attempted to move beyond the barricades that the Coimbatore Rural Police had erected, the police detained them and took them to a wedding hall in Thadagam, where they were lodged till the evening.

Mr. Palanisamy said that the protesters planned to meet Opposition leader and DMK working president M.K. Stalin for moving a calling attention motion in the Legislative Assembly on the issue. They wanted Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to raise the issue with the Prime Minister and stop the construction of the check dams.

“If there is no relief, the State government must move the Supreme Court to stop the construction of the dams. When the DMK was in power in the State, it had done all that was possible to protect Tamil Nadu’s interests,” Mr. Palanisamy claimed. T.R. Baalu, another DMK leader who was then the Union Environment Minister, did not grant permission to Kerala for the construction of any structure across the Bhavani river, he added.

Mr. Ramakrishnan said the check dam being built in Thekkuttai and the proposed one in Manjakandi would prevent the flow of Bhavani water to Tamil Nadu and, in turn, affect Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Erode districts. In Thekkuttai, the Kerala government had completed the foundation of the structure and was proceeding with the secondary stage of construction, he alleged, adding that in Manjakandi, the work on the dam was yet to begin.

He said the protesters were planning to meet the Chief Minister in this regard.

Mr. Nagaraj of the KJK warned that if the Kerala government went ahead with the check dam project, the party would be forced to mobilise cadre to demolish the structure.