VELLORE: The State government should immediately form a River Water Protection Committee comprising senior IAS officers to safe guard the interest of northern Tamil Nadu farmers, urged leader of Opposition M K Stalin on Sunday.
Along with DMK principal secretary S Duraimurugan, party MLAs R Gandhi, Nandhakumar, Karthigeyan, and Nallathambi, Stalin inspected the construction of a check dam at Kankundi village in Andhra Pradesh near K V Kuppam in Palar. During the inspection on the TN-Andhra border, a large number of police personnel from both States were deployed for security.
Stalin said that the ground level link road’s height is being increased to 50 ft and the check dam is being built at a cost of `4.5 crore in Kosasthalaiyar between Kankundi and Palar villages. “If the river’s flow is hindered, people from Vellore, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram would get affected.”
The ruling AIADMK government is in power due to horse trading of MLAs, Stalin alleged and urged it to form a River Water Protection Committee comprising senior IAS officers. “The dispute in sharing the water with neighbouring States like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra should be sorted out through dialogue.” He also urged the government to conduct an all-party meeting to sort out the water disputes with neighbouring States.