TIRUCHY/THANJAVUR/NAGAPATTINAM: Hundreds of farmers’ association members and opposition political activists on Sunday staged a rail blockade in Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur districts demanding the release of Cauvery water from Karnataka to save the wilting crops in the State.
While MDMK general secretary Vaiko led the protests in front of the Thanjavur railway junction, Association for Interlinking National-South Indian Rivers president P Ayyakannu was at the forefront of the agitation in Tiruchy.
Vikao alleged that the Centre was acting against the interests of Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery dispute with an eye on votes in Karnataka, where the BJP is bracing for a tough fight to wrest power in the upcoming Assembly polls. An argument ensued when some 175 protesters led by Ayyakkanuu were stooped by the police from entering the Tiruchy railway station. Several agitated farmers then took their shirts off and lay on the road raising slogans against the State. Later , nearly 50 protesters, who managed to enter the railway tracks to block trains were arrested. They were all released in the evening.
“As the water level in the Mettur dam has gradually decreased, hectares of samba crops are on the verge of drying out. The State press the Karnataka government to release 20 TMC Cauvery water so that the dam gets adequate water till February end,” CPI(M)secretary G Ramakrishnan said in Tiruchy.
In Thanjavur, hundreds of protesters squatted on the first platform of the railway station and raised slogans against the Centre, alleging that it had betrayed the Tamils and the Cauvery delta farmers by not constituting a Cauvery Management Board even after the Supreme Court direction. They also said that the State failed to pressure Karnataka to release water. If water was not released immediately, crops in 10 lakh acres in the delta districts will wilt and cause irreparable loss to thousands of farmers, they added. The Tiruchy-Chennai Cholan Express had to be stopped before the protesters on the first platform.
Addressing mediapersons, Vaiko said that there wasn’t enough water in the Mettur reservoir and there would be a drinking water crisis for the State’s people as well as cattle.
“The chief minister who ought to have had led an all party delegation to the Prime Minister for getting the water has abdicated duty,” he alleged. Former Union minister S S Palanimanickam, V Durimanickam of a CPI-affiliated farmers’ association, P Shanmugam of a CPM-affiliated farmers’ association, DMK MLA Durai Chandrasekaran, P G Rajendran of the Congress also took part in the protest in Thanjavur.
Similar protests was held at the Kumbakonam and Koradacherry railway stations and many were arrested. While DMK district secretary S Kalyanasundaram, MLAs G Anbalagan and Govi Chezhian, CPI leader M A Bharathi, CPM leader Chinnai Pandian, VCK leader Tamilaruvi led the agitation in Kumbakonam, the protest in Tiruvarur district was led by CPI state secretary R Mutharasan.
Over 500 workers of the DMK, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK and the MDMK took part in rail blockade protests at the Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai railway stations.
In Nagapattinam, protesters was led by former DMK minister U Madhivanan and former party MPs AKS Vijayan and M Selvarasu squatted on the tracks at the Akkaraippettai level crossing, blocking a goods train for an hour, before being removed by police. DMK district secretary Nivetha M Murugan led the protesters who blocked the Chozhan Express in Mayiladuthurai. All the arrested people were released in the evening.