TRICHY: Feeling let down by the newly-elected government on the Cauvery water issue, various farmers associations, consumers and traders organizations under the banner 'Cauvery Rights Retrieval Group' have decided to stage massive protests in delta districts on Monday.
The group accused the Karnataka government for allegedly considering it a 'racial issue' instead of seeing it as a water dispute. The retrieval group have decided to stage picketing in front of central government offices in Trichy, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur on July 21 for not constituting Cauvery Water Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee as directed in the final verdict of the Cauversy River Water Disputes Tribunal.
"We expected that the NDA government would solve the water dispute by constituting a Cauvery management board and regulation committee, but, they failed to do so. Karnataka is seeing it as a racial issue. So, we have decided to stage protests to get back our rights," P Maniarasan, president of Tamil Desiya Podhuvudamai Katchi told reporters in Trichy on Sunday.
He expressed concern over the disunity among politicians here in protesting against the Karnataka government's initiatives taken to prevent the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. "Politicians, including the elected representatives as well as people in Karnataka vehemently oppose whenever the court rules go in favor of Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, politicians and people in Tamil Nadu rarely register their protest. First and foremost, there must be unity in this issue even if they are divided in various other issues," Maniarasan said. The Cauvery rights retrieval group in the state demanded the government to call for an all party meeting to pressurise the prime minister Narendra Modi to put an end to the issue. "Like Karnataka, our state government should also discuss the issue with all party leaders in the state. They should meet the PM to mount pressure on him to implement the Cauvery management board," said Maniarasan.
The retrieval group urged the state government to take steps to get 30 tmc of water from Karnataka for Kuruvai cultivation. "As per the final verdict of the tribunal, Karnataka should release 10 tmc of water in June and 34 tmc in July. But, if our government takes steps to get at least 30 tmc, it will help Kuruvai cultivation," he said.
(Courtesy: Times of India)
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