DMK stalled Cauvery-Gundar water project in Ramnad: EPS

MADURAI: To cater to the basic needs of farmers in the drought prone Ramanathapuram district, the AIADMK government initiated Cauvery-Gundar water supply scheme at a cost of Rs14,000 crore, but DMK stalled the scheme after it came to power, AIADMK general secretary and leader of the opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Palaniswami was speaking at a rally on Monday evening while seeking votes for P Jayaperumal, AIADMK candidate from Ramanathapuram LS constituency.

Taking pride, EPS said since he is a farmer, he knew about sufferings of the ryots and to transform the drought affected Ramanathapuram into a fertile soil, the Cauvery water project works were launched from Pudukottai. But the DMK government implemented schemes to drum up more revenue for the exchequer, and not for the common good. If the AIADMK government continued in power, the Cauvery-Gundar water scheme would have been completed and dedicated to the Ramanathapuram people, who should question the DMK men on the necessity for stalling the water project.

Palaniswami said agriculture and fishing are the economic mainstays in Ramanathapuram, but the DMK government failed to protect the interests of farmers and fishermen.

Unlike other parties, the AIADMK was founded by MG Ramachandran for the welfare of people, especially the poor. Following in his footsteps, J Jayalalithaa, former CM and AIADMK supremo won a legal battle to raise water storage level up to 142 ft in Mullaperiyar dam to benefit people of State.

In a step ahead, the Supreme Court gave its nod to further increase the water level up to 152 ft in the dam after strengthening the Baby dam. But, the DMK government is ineffective and did not follow it properly.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said Modi’s raking up the Katchatheevu issue of late was only to garner votes of fishermen. The Modi-led Union government did nothing to retrieve Katchatheevu during its decade of regime when the former CM Jayalalithaa took the issue legally and forwarded letters to Modi on several occasions.

It is the Congress government that ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974 when former Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi did not even reacted to the issue.

He appealed to the Centre to at least take up the Katchatheevu case which is still pending before the Supreme Court to safeguard the interests of fishermen. Listing out development projects in Ramanathapuram, he said the AIADMK government with the aid of Centre, provided 500 tuna longliner boats as part of diversified fishing at Rs 286 crore, Government medical college and Law college, but the DMK government could not even mention any such project for Ramanathapuram.