CHENNAI: The leaders of the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA) on Friday called on President Pranab Mukherjee at Delhi and requested him to render justice to the people of Tamil Nadu in Cauvery water dispute.
Talking to mediapersons after a 30-minute meeting with the President, PWA convener Vaiko said the President gave a patient hearing to the issues faced by the Tamil Nadu people and promised to do whatever possible on this issue. CPM State Secretary G Ramakrishnan, CPI State Secretary R Mutharasan, and VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan were among those who met the President.
The President should issue directions to the Centre to immediately constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Regulatory Committee (CRC) besides insisting on Karnataka government releasing water for the current samba crop at once, they said in the memorandum submitted to the President.
The PWA traced the origin of the Cauvery water dispute over the years and said now the Centre had refused to constitute the CMB and CRC, as recommended by the Cauvery Tribunal in its final award in February, 2007.
“The Centre’s stand shows that it has taken a partisan stand on the issue,” the leaders said and pointed out that the farmers and agricultural labourers of Tamil Nadu were subjected to heavy losses because of the attitude of Karnataka government.
They said the farmers had incurred a total loss of `7,974 crore in terms of kuruvai crop, samba crop and horticultural crops, due to the non-release of water by Karnataka.
MK writes to Prime Minister
DMK president M Karunanidhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, asking him to withdraw the proposal to shift the headquarters of the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) from Chennai to New Delhi.
CIPET, funded by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, was established in Chennai in 1968 with an objective of promoting plastic tools and dye-making industries in India. Recently Union Chemicals Minister H Ananth Kumar ordered shifting of the institute to headquarters for administrative reasons.
The CIPET workers union opposed this and the campaign gathered momentum with various leaders, including Leader of Opposition M K Stalin, expressing solidarity.