Chennai: “Chief Minister Vijay, who has kept the Cauvery Technical Committee inactive without realizing its importance, should give up all his theatrics and immediately focus on the Cauvery issue and fill all the posts in the Cauvery Technical Committee,” AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami has urged.
In a statement issued by him on this, he said, “The Cauvery River and Cauvery water are the lifeline of Tamil Nadu. If any problem arises in either of these, it will have a major impact on the food and drinking water of Tamil Nadu’s farmers and the general public.
The Tamil Nadu government, which has fallen into the hands of the incompetent called T.V.K., like a toy caught in the hands of children at play, does not even seem to know what understanding it currently has regarding the Cauvery issue.
It has become routine for Chief Minister Vijay of the minority T.V.K. government to flounder and stumble, unable to exert pressure on the Karnataka Congress government from multiple fronts to secure Tamil Nadu’s rightful share of Cauvery water, and unable to find a way to rein in the Karnataka Chief Minister’s authoritarian boast that he will “definitely build a dam at Mekedatu across the Cauvery.”
A Cauvery technical committee has been functioning for many years to resolve the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The committee’s deputy chairman, Selvaraj, resigned from his post last June. It has been said that this T.V.K. government accepted his resignation only after a delay of four months, that is, on the 9th of this month; and that someone else will soon be appointed to that post. Even Kumbhakarna can be awakened from sleep. Waking up these minority rulers has become an impossible task.
Since last June, the Cauvery Management Authority and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee have met several times, and each time they have instructed the Karnataka government on how much water should be released in a phased manner from the Cauvery as Tamil Nadu’s rightful share, in TMC. Moreover, during the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly session held last August, a resolution on the Cauvery water issue was passed amid various irregularities.
Under this T.V.K. government, the Cauvery Technical Committee has been completely inactive and stalled for the past four months, so the Karnataka government has not been able to take firm action to stop the dam construction project at Mekedatu; nor has it been able to obtain Cauvery water in full as per the orders of the Cauvery Management Authority. As a result, this T.V.K. government has not been able to release water on time for kuruvai cultivation.
Only if water is released fully in the Cauvery until January can a full harvest be obtained in samba cultivation, but at present there is only 54 feet of water in the Mettur dam. As a result, there is a situation where water cannot be fully supplied even for samba cultivation. This T.V.K. government too has been evading without taking any firm action to secure Tamil Nadu’s rightful share of Cauvery water in full.
Because of this, delta district farmers are facing severe hardship, unable to carry out both kuruvai and samba cultivation. News continues to appear in the media that in many parts of Tamil Nadu, the public is struggling for drinking water and staging road blockades.
Instead of resolving the drinking water problem of the people of Tamil Nadu and the irrigation problems of delta farmers, the Chief Minister’s enthusiastic participation in entertainment and amusement events brings to mind Pulikesi 23rd.
“I urge this TVK government to give up all its playfulness, immediately focus on the Cauvery issue, and fill all the posts so that the Cauvery Technical Committee can function fully,” he said.
