Opposition parties stage walkout

The DMK on Friday led a walkout by Opposition parties from the Assembly, in protest against the statement of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami that the release of water from the Mettur dam on June 12 would not be possible this year. However, the CM hit back at the principal Opposition party, pointing out that water had never been released from the Mettur dam on the customary date when the DMK was in power.

While announcing the kuruvai package in the House, Mr. Palaniswami said poor storage at the Mettur dam meant water would not be released on the customary date. In response, the DMK, led by party working president M.K. Stalin, staged a walkout. Its allies — the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League — followed suit.

In his defence, Mr. Palaniswami listed the dates on which water was released from the Mettur dam during the DMK’s regimes since the 1980s, and pointed out: “So, it is clear that there is no history of water [having been] released on the said date whenever the DMK was in power. Water can be released only if there is storage.”

Noting that water could be released from the Mettur dam only if the storage level was at least 90 feet, the CM said, “The government’s intention is to release water, but sufficient water is not available due to monsoon failure.”

Mr. Palaniswami pointed out that water was released from the Mettur dam on June 6 — ahead of the customary date of June 12 — in 2011, and on June 12 in 2001, during the erstwhile AIADMK regimes.

Since the construction of the Mettur dam 83 years ago, water had been released on the customary date only on 16 occasions, he pointed out. “Be it your [DMK] government or our government, water could be released only if it is available,” he quipped.