Delta farmers denounce CM’s silence over Mekedatu

TIRUCHY: Delta farmers rallied to the PWD Superintending Engineer office in Thanjavur on Thursday and staged a protest against the state government alleging support to Karnataka in construction of Mekedatu dam.

The farmers, who converged at Old Collectorate, came in a procession raising slogans and staged a protest demanding the state government to insist Karnataka to stop construction of Mekedatu dam, which would certainly make Cauvery Delta a desert.

Speaking to reporters, PR Pandian, who led the protest said, both Karnataka Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister have been telling the people during the election campaign on realisation of the Mekedatu Dam project. “DMK which is part of INDIA bloc has been maintaining unusual silence over the issue and Chief Minister MK Stalin has not even uttered a single statement against Karnataka. So we, the farmers, suspect that the Tamil Nadu government indirectly helped Karnataka in Mekedatu dam project,” Pandian said.

He further said if Mekedatu dam construction gets over, Tamil Nadu will become a desert and even the people will not get water for drinking purposes. “Even the Cauvery Water Management Authority has been functioning in favour of Karnataka and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has not been speaking against this at any point,” he said.

Stating that Karnataka failed to release the due share of water for the previous year, Pandian claimed that the Tamil Nadu government had not initiated any step to get the due share of water from Karnataka. “The state government should wake up from their deep sleep and start working for the benefit of the farmers as well as the general public on the water issue,” he added.