The Coimbatore Rural Police have stopped at Kerala-Tamil Nadu inter-state check posts around 200 lorries that were on their way to Kerala carrying vegetables.
According to police sources, following protests by Kerala farmers in districts bordering Tamil Nadu demanding release of Aliyar water, the police had stopped the lorries as a precautionary measure.
The protests started around midnight and as of Friday morning, they had stopped around 80 vehicles in Pollachi, and around 30 to 40 each in Gopalapuram, Meenakshipuram, Velanthavalam, Nadupuni and Govindapuram check posts.
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As per the inter-state agreement, Tamil Nadu was supposed to give 7.25 tmc water a year to Kerala from the Parambikulam Aliyar Project. The State released the water for about 10 months, from July to April.
At present, the State had released 5.5 tmc and was yet to release 1.75 tmc. The protest by Kerala farmers was to release the remaining 1.75 tmc, the sources said and added that the State had been releasing 60 cusecs to Kerala to meet drinking water needs, though.