NAGAPATTINAM: A day after the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution against Karnataka government’s plan to build a dam at Mekedatu, delta farmers on Saturday opposed a provision in the resolution that proposed for the constitution of a new tribunal to adjudicate the dispute. The resolution in the Cauvery dispute was moved by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and was unanimously adopted by the House on Friday.
Farmers’ associations on Saturday said the tribunal proposal could dilute the TN’s existing rights under Cauvery water award and Supreme Court judgments.
While welcoming the resolution urging the centre not to permit the dam project, leaders of various farmers’ organisations in Thanjavur including Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam and the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee argued that a new tribunal was unnecessary as the existing Cauvery Tribunal award and directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority remain in force.
Farmers threaten to burn Mekedatu resolution copies on June 27
The farmers demanded that the TVK government withdraw this particular provision in the resolution. They also asked the state government to drop the proposal to form a new tribunal to address the Mekedatu dispute and warned that copies of the resolution would be burnt in protest on June 27 if the proposal was not dropped.
Also, in this regard, farmers in Nagapattinam staged a black-flag protest in agricultural fields near Magizhi village close to Thirupoondi. Protesters claimed that the formation of a new tribunal could weaken Tamil Nadu’s legal position and create uncertainty over the state’s share of Cauvery water.
The farmers expressed concern that any move to revisit the existing framework could adversely affect irrigation and drinking water supplies in the delta districts. They urged the state government to protect the rights secured through decades of legal and political struggle, and abandon plans for a new tribunal. Several farmers participated in the protests and raised slogans demanding the withdrawal of the proposal.