Weekday routine in Chennai was thrown out of kilter by a near-total, day-long shutdown called by the main opposition party DMK in solidarity with dought-hit farmers.
The strike call received strong support across Tamil Nadu with demonstrations organised in major cities and towns.
Shops and business establishments across the Chennai city remained closed. Auto rickshaws and taxis stayed off the road while bus services were skeletal. Traffic was sparse even during the peak hours in the morning.
Working president of the DMK MK Stalin led the agitation in Thiruvarur. Su Thirunavukkarasar, Tamil Nadu Congress president, addressed the protesters in Chennai at the demonstration in Egmore.
He urged the state government accede to farmers’ demands. But the ruling party, the AIADMK, is too busy dealing with the split within its own ranks, he said.
The agitation is organised in the backdrop of an unprecedented drought, considered the worst in more than a century.
Demands The protesters demanded waiver of all farm loans, establishment of a Cauvery Management Authority to implement sharing of the water in the interstate river and the state government should convene a special meeting of the Assembly to discuss the problems faced by the farmers. The government should offer support to the families of farmers who have committed suicide due to crop failure.
An assurance should be given to scrap coalbed methane and hydrocarbon projects and the Cauvery delta should be given the status of a special agriculture zone. Fixing fair prices for paddy and sugarcane, raising the Mullaiperiyar dam height to 152 feet and preventing the neighbouring states from building dams and check dams in interstate rivers are the other demands.