TIRUCHY/THANJAVUR : With Cauvery water dispute generating enough heat in the delta region, worried farmers are going to extremes to voice their protests.
One such unusual protest was staged by the members of the Desiya-Thenindiya Nadhigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam during the weekly grievance meet on Monday. Seeking permission for their hunger strike over the water sharing row, they prostrated before the officials, including District Collector K S Palanisamy.
They also alleged that the police were apathetic to their request for permission to stage a two-week protest.
The outfit’s state president P Ayyakannu said the association had planned a protest to condemn Karnataka for refusing to discharge the prescribed quantum of the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, as defined in the final awards of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). However, the city police did not give permission for the same.
“We want to stage a non-violent protest to express our frustration with the Central government for not intervening in the water dispute between the two riparian States. As our own police department refuse to permit us for expressing our rights, we prostrated before the officials,” Ayyakannu said.
Even as the gloom prevails across the delta, widespread rains brought some cheer in Thanjavur, where Samba crop is a question mark before farmers as Karnataka has refused to part with water. “The farmers may not go in for direct sowing immediately. But they can plough their fields now,” said B Balasundaram, a farmer from Peravurani and district secretary of TN Farmers Association (CPI). It would also be help Kuruvai, said association district secretary Sami Natarajan.