THANJAVUR: Terming Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi’s recent tweet a mere “assurance”, the joint movement for the protection of Cauvery basin on Sunday announced that it would launch agitations if the lignite mines from Tamil Nadu were not officially cancelled and taken out of the list of blocks for auction. A resolution to this effect was adopted by the Federation of farmers’ movements at the end of its consultative meeting here the same day.
Elaborating on the resolutions adopted in the meeting, P Shanmugam, the state president of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, said representatives from Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagappattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Ariyalur and Pudukkottai participated.
The meeting welcomed Chief Minister M K Stalin’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resolution against the coal blocks adopted in the state assembly immediately after the announcement by the Union government of the auction for new blocks in fertile Cauvery delta districts, Shanmugam said.
Pointing to BJP state president K Annamalai’s statement on the eve of the PM’s visit, Shanmugam noted how a section of the media and leaders of various outfits expressed the opinion that the auction for the coal blocks had already been cancelled. “However, the auction for the blocks was not cancelled officially and the Union coal minister only gave an assurance. It is only an assurance and not an order,” Shanmugam added.
We have seen the Union government not fulfilling its assurance given during the year-long struggle in Delhi against the farm laws, he remarked, adding that there was no official order from the coal ministry and that the coal blocks were still part of the auction documents. “Hence we demand the union ministry remove the blocks from the tender documents immediately and issue an order to the effect that the coal blocks have been excluded from the auction,” he added.
Further, Shanmugam demanded that the status of the delta region as a protected agriculture zone be maintained and that not only coal mines but also an exploration of hydrocarbons that endanger the fertile lands not be taken up by the Union and state governments. If the coal blocks were not excluded officially from the auction announcement by the end of the month, the movement would launch agitations, he said.