THANJAVUR: The Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee will organise dharnas across Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam on July 2 in protest against hydrocarbon projects and demanding that Karnataka not stop Cauvery water, said its coordinator, P Maniyarasan, on Sunday.
Maniyarasan said that though the Cauvery Water Management Authority had ordered Karnataka to release 9.19 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu for June, there was no sign of the neighbouring state doing it.
Maniyarasan accused both the government and opposition parties in Tamil Nadu of silence on the matter, adding that the BJP-led Union government, though duty-bound to implement the Supreme Court’s and the Cauvery authority’s orders, had been anti-Tamil. Though the regulatory committees should be full-time bodies, the Centre appointed officials on additional charge, he said.
Maniyarasan accused multinational corporations and the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (GAIL) of being hellbent on making the delta districts petrochemical zones. From Villuppuram to Rameswaram, the Centre has been indiscriminately giving licences to explore hydrocarbons, and GAIL has been laying pipes even in fields where crop has been cultivated, he alleged.
Accusing the State government of letting loose a reign of terror by arresting protesters on draconian charges, he said even those distributing handbills on the harmful nature of hydraulic fracturing and other processes involved in hydrocarbon exploration were not spared. He went on to allege that the Central and State governments were conspiring to drive people out of the delta.
Defending the protests against hydrocarbon projects, Maniyarasan said the people had no other option to safeguard their livelihoods, adding that paddy and sugarcane fields, banana plantations and the cultivation of ground nut, pulses and betel nut also signified development.
The committee also said that building a dam on the Cauvery in Rasimanal would be against Tamil Nadu’s interest because it would justify Karnataka’s demand for a dam at Mekedatu. It suggested that ancient lakes like Ponneri be renovated so that water could be stored, instead of building a dam at Rasimanal. A certain quantity of natural flow of river water into the sea is necessary to maintain the ecological cycle and disturbing it would reduce rainfall, he added.
Ayyanapuram C Murugesan of Tamilar Desiya Munnani, K Venkatraman of Tamilar Desiya Periyakkam, TS Karthikeyan of Tamil Desiya Padukappu Kazhagam, Kudanthai Arasan of the Viduthalai Tamil Puligal Katchi, Simiyon Xavier Raj of the Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, Cuddalore C Arumugam of the Tamilaga Uzhavar Munnani were among those present at the committee’s special general body meeting.