Plans afoot for continuous stir over Cauvery rights

The Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee is planning to hold a continuous gherao of the District Collectorate here from March 29 onwards to protest against the “continued injustice” being meted out to Tamil Nadu in relation to the Cauvery dispute.

The ‘Mother Cauvery protection agitation’, as it has been named, is also aimed at pressing for the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board, the declaration of the entire Cauvery delta as a protected agricultural zone and the banning of all types of sub-surface oil and gas exploration affecting agricultural fields, among other issues.

Committee Coordinator P. Maniyarasan said that the Centre’s plan to dissolve several inter-state water disputes tribunals and constitute a single tribunal in their place smacked of gross injustice to Tamil Nadu.

Consequently, the abrogation of the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal would render infructuous the decades-long struggle of the Tamil Nadu farmers to get their due share of Cauvery water, he noted.

“The plan to constitute a single tribunal, as was laid out by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti in Parliament on March 15, was a direct assault on the water rights of Tamil Nadu,” he said.

The new tribunal would only strengthen Karnataka's stance and the TN government must shift gears to thwart the move. Tamil Nadu farmers will not withstand the prolonged and agonising wait for water all over again, Mr. Maniyarasan warned.