CHENNAI: Fasting cannot be permitted on the Marina, that too, for 90 days, the city Police Commissioner said in his counter-affidavit filed in the Madras High Court on Thursday.The counter was filed in response to a PIL petition from Ayyakannu to permit him to hold hunger strike for 90 days on the Marina to urge the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
The counter said Marina is not in the list of the permitted places for holding agitations including huger strikes. If the agitation is permitted at the Marina, the possibility of various anti-social groups participating in the struggle and creating law and order problems cannot be ruled out, it said.Permission to hold an indefinite fast for 90 days cannot be granted as it is humanly impossible, physically incompatible and may have serious repercussions. All political parties such as the DMK and AIADMK were given only one day for any demonstration, that too, from morning to evening at the earmarked places - near Valluvar Kottam in Nungambakkam, Quaid-e-Milleth manimandapam in Chintadripet and near State Guest House in Chepauk.
According to Ayyakannu, the CMB is a long-pending demand of Tamil Nadu. In this connection, the State has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, which on February 16 last directed the Union government to constitute a scheme for management of the Cauvery water within six weeks. The deadline expired on March 30. But the Centre has failed to constitute the board. “Therefore, demanding immediate constitution of the board, we have planned to stage hunger strike on the Marina. Since Chennai does not have a vast ground to organise (the hunger strike), we might be permitted to stage our protest at the Marina,” Ayyakannu has said in his PIL petition.
Erratum
It was mistakenly reported in these columns on April 13 that the High Court granted permission to farmers’ leader Ayyakannu to observe a fast on the Marina. The court was only making certain observations, which were misunderstood. Express regrets the mistake