BENGALURU/SALEM/ ERODE/COIMBATORE:On a day when the Karnataka government filed an appeal before the Supreme Court and the monitoring committee against an earlier order directing the State to release 15,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery to Tamil Nadu for 10 days, several political parties in the neighbouring state called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to resolve the issue.
Speaking to reporters, Karnataka Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T B Jayachandra said the monitoring committee is likely hear the matter on Monday and hoped that Karnataka would get justice.
But several political leaders in Tamil Nadu pinned their hopes on the Prime Minister. “Former PM Deve Gowda reportedly said that when he took up the Cauvery issue with Modi, the latter expressed his inability to look into it saying the matter was before the Supreme Court. If this is true, then the Prime Minister must know that he has a role to play and perform so that the differences between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are not widened,” said former Union Minister and TMC leader G K Vasan in Salem.
He said the Prime Minister should see to it that the Supreme Court order is implemented in a proper manner. “He also has the responsibility to set up the Cauvery Management Board.”
On the Tamil Nadu front, he said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa should change her approach of depending purely on legal recourse and writing letters to the Prime Minister. “Instead, solutions to important problems affecting livelihood of the people of the State must be found by holding all-party meetings,” he said.
In Namakkal, CPI (M) State secretary G Ramakrishnan also urged the government to convene an all- party meeting.
The VCK requested to the Prime Minister to find a permanent solution to the water-sharing row. “The Karnataka CM has already convened an all-party meeting. Now, he has asked the PM to convene the meeting of the Chief Ministers of southern states. The VCK welcomes this stand,” party leader Thol Thirumavalavan said in Erode.
He also urged Jayalalithaa to convene an all-party meet and lead a delegation to New Delhi.
“The movement of vehicles from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka has been badly hit due to the protests,” he added.
The TNSTC bus service from Erode district to Karnataka via Sathy was hit for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday. Buses plied till the border at Thalavadi via Thalamalai.
Meanwhile, there was something to cheer for Delta farmers. The inflow into the Mettur dam surged to 15,070 cusecs with water released from Karnataka starting to reach the State in full measure. Water level of the dam rose by 1.23 ft in a single day with the improved inflows taking the water level to 77.97 ft.
The flow in the river has not receded as monitored in Biligundulu and it continued to get a higher inflow, the officials said.
Across the border, ire over release of water continued. Biocon Ltd managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who was trolled for her ‘Bandharulu’ tweet during the Karnataka bandh on Friday, said she was pained by the outrage expressed against the innocuous tweet. “My tweet has been distorted and misinterpreted, and used to hurl abuse and shame me, which is most unfair. I am shocked to see such negative vile being hurled at me from different quarters,” she said.
“As a proud Kannadiga, I have worked tirelessly over decades in Bengaluru, not just as a businesswoman creating several thousands of jobs, but as a proud and responsible citizen, investing my personal time, energy and funds for the welfare of the people of Karnataka. I have utmost love and respect for my fellow citizens, especially farmers, and I am aware of the hardships faced by them due to acute water shortage and I believe Karnataka’s needs from Cauvery water must be addressed first. However, I am of the view that bandhs are not a solution to this grave issue,” her open letter said.
Not just the Cauvery, issues related to the Siruvani dam were also the highlight of the day as almost 100 members from various political parties and farmers associations organised a human chain protest in Coimbatore demanding that the Kerala government dropped its plan to construct a gravity dam across the Siruvani, a sub-tributary of the Cauvery.
During the protest, they condemned the Union government for giving approval for inspection of the spot where check dam construction is planned and urged the Tamil Nadu government to act legally to get its rights through the court as in the case of the Cauvery water sharing.
“Kerala government has purchased bricks, sand and other construction materials from the traders in the Tamil Nadu for constructing dam across the Siruvani,” said Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam secretary K Ramakrishnan.
“The Tamil Nadu government should initiate action to stop sale of construction materials to Kerala,” he said.
“We will lay siege to the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. By next week, we plan to stop the movement of products, including vegetables, to the neighbouring state,” he said.