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With the Centre yet to follow the Supreme Court order to constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB), farmers’ representatives in Tamil Nadu have called for political leaders to work together.
The State government has decided to take the legal route, with the Supreme Court’s six-week deadline expiring on March 29.
Earlier this year, the apex court had ruled that in line with the final decision of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, a mechanism to ensure sharing of the river waters will have to be set up. The CWMB and a regulation committee was to be set up to oversee the sharing of Cauvery waters between the riparian States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
S Ranganathan, General Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, said the political leaders must work together on this issue. As decided at an all-party meeting held earlier, if the Tamil Nadu government files a petition on the issue in the Supreme Court, the Opposition parties should also participate in it.
V Giri, National President, Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations, said all political leaders must unite instead of protesting on the basis of their party affiliations. In Karnataka, even the Congress and the BJP appeared to be united on denying Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, he said.
PR Pandian, who heads the Coordination Committee of All Farmers’ Association, said it had called for a meeting of farmers in Thanjavur on Saturday where a decision protesting Centre’s inaction will be announced. The protest will be Statewide and intensive, he said.
Parties to agitate
Opposition party leaders including the DMK have been demanding that the State government act to ensure that the Centre sets up the Board and regulation committee. However, the State government had said it would wait till the deadline.
Now, following a meeting led by the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday, the government has decided to move the Supreme Court on the matter. It will “initiate a judicial process”, said sources in the know.
The ruling AIADMK has also announced demonstrations from Monday. The DMK, following a meeting of its Executive Council, has called for an all-party meeting on the issue and announced that it would organise protests against the Centre’s inaction.
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