Delta farmers hail EPS as man of action

“While we were worried about the fate of agriculture in the Cauvery Delta region, the announcement of the Chief Minister has made us cheerful and the CM has proved himself as the man of action for passing a bill within 10 days of the announcement,” said the Cauvery Delta Farmers Association General Secretary Mannargudi S Ranganathan after meeting the Chief Minister in Tiruchy on Wednesday.

He said that the association felicitated the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa on March 30, 2013 for winning the Cauvery water case and this announcement has made the farmers happier than that day.

While the Centre has been on its fast track mode to implement Swachh Bharat and hydrocarbon extraction projects that would certainly affect agriculture, the Chief Minister has announced as the Protected Agricultural Zone in Salem and passed the Bill within 10 days of the announcement.

“We are surprised as passing a bill after announcement would take at least three to four months for it needed to be discussed with the legal experts. But, the Chief Minister made it within a short period which proved himself as the man of action and the Cauvery Delta would survive for more than 1000 years,” Ranganathan said.

Pointing out that the result of extraction activities had turned the ground water more saline, Mannargudi Ranganathan said the withdrawal of the project would revive ground water level and it became possible with the ‘silent man of action,’ said Ranganthan referring to Chief Minister Palaniswami.

In order to express gratitude, the Farmers Association has decided to felicitate the Chief Minister on March 7 when the association would request the CM to streamline the sand mining activities in Cauvery river bed.