PALAKKAD: The activists of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam and farmers’ organisations of Tamil Nadu on Sunday took out a march to the Aanakatti checkpost in Attappadi demanding the stalling of the construction of the check dams across Bhavani river.
The Tamil Nadu police sprung into action and blocked the protestors at the checkpost within 10 minutes from the start of the march. The Tamil Nadu police team was led by Coimbatore SP R V Ramyabharathi and on the Kerala side, Agali DSP Subramanian led the team.
Speakers at the protest meet alleged that Kerala was diverting water from the Bhavani dam by constructing check dams. They demanded that the work on the check dams be stopped immediately. The Minor Irrigation Department has begun the construction of two check dams at Thekkuvattai and Padavayal across the Bhavani river in Pudur panchayat of Attappadi.
“The earth work has been progressing on two check dams for the past one week. It has been proposed to construct three check dams and implement four lift irrigation projects at a cost of `13 crore. In Padavayal, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has proposed to implement drinking water schemes which will also be used for irrigation purposes. The estimate for one check dam has been pegged at `95 lakh and for the other it is `1.25 crore,” said Nandan, Executive Engineer of the Minor Irrigation Department in Attappadi.
Irrigation Department officials said that as per the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) in 2007, notified in the gazette on February 20,2013, Kerala was allotted 30 tmc of water. Kerala proposed to utilise 21 tmc of water from the Kabini sub-basin, six tmc from the Bhavani sub-basin and three tmc from the Pambar sub-basin.
The water from the Bhavani sub-basin, which is being utilised by Kerala, and all the three check dams put together will utilise less than 1 tmc of water, the officials said.
Meanwhile, P Sudhir, Deputy Director, Joint Water Regulatory Development Board, told ‘Express’ that the area was reeling under acute drinking water shortage and it is well within the rights of Kerala to utilise the water. Regarding protests by Tamil Nadu, Irrigation Department officials said how could they raise objections at our efforts to resolve the dire drinking water crisis in our state.
There were also reports that Tamil Nadu had constructed a check dam upstream across the Varagar illegally. But Kerala has abstained from making any undue comments, he said.
The other parties that took part in the march include Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi and Tamil Maanila Congress. The protesters were led by DMK leader Ramakrishnan.