THANJAVUR: The announcement of Cauvery delta as protected special agricultural zone brought relief and cheer to farmers and activists who have been fighting for the cause for long. They emphasized that relief would be complete only if there was a legislation and called upon the chief minister to introduce one in the budget session of Assembly.
KKR Lenin, president of the Movement against Destruction, one of the organisation which spearheaded agitations against hydrocarbon projects welcomed the Chief Minister’s announcement. He appealed to the State government to take steps to convince the Centre to accept the law once it was adopted by the legislature. Also, he demanded that offshore hydrocarbon exploration projects be scrapped.
Expressing happiness, N V Kannan, secretary of Thanjavur unit of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, said the chief minister must back his word with legislative action. Else it (announcement) would be construed as a tactics to scuttle protests, he added. The Joint Movement of the Cauvery Basin Protection had announced protests across the delta districts on February 13 demanding declaration of the delta as protected agriculture zone.
P S Masilamani, state deputy secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, echoed his view. ‘The government must bring in legislation immediately declaring delta as protected zone and publish it in Gazette’, he said adding the Union government must give assent to such a bill at the earliest.
‘Cauvery’ V Dhanabalan, the leader of Cauvery Farmers Protection Association said, “We welcome the Chief Minister’s stance. He must ensure the Centre does not ignore the bill as it happened in the case of NEET. Lawmakers in Tamil Nadu must at least now join hands and ensure farmers are protected.
(With inputs from Jayakumar Madala and Antony Fernando)
‘Will stop Delta dists from turning into a desert’
Chennai: Political parties welcomed Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s announcement that Cauvery delta districts will be declared as a ‘protected special agricultural zone’.
PMK founder S Ramadoss said by this way the delta districts will be prevented from becoming a desert. He said the announcement showed the political courage of the Chief Minister in the wake of corporate companies waiting to implement several lakh crore worth hydrocarbon projects in the delta districts with Centre’s support.
Nagapattinam MLA Thamimun Ansari said, “The Chief Minister has made a bold announcement just when the corporates were about to ransack the prosperous delta region.”