Chances of Tamil Nadu witnessing a massive agitation by farmers all over the State got strengthened on Monday as the Mettur Dam could not be opened to release water for Kuruvai (short term paddy crop) for the seventh year in a row.
Mettur Dam stores the Cauvery River water received by Tamil Nadu from Karnataka during the non-farming and non-rainy days of the year. The dam is usually opened on June 12 to signal the beginning of farming season in the districts of Tiruchrappalli, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore, collectively known as the Cauvery Delta Districts.
Since 2011, farmers in the districts had to forgo the Kuruvai crop for want of water. “This is a poor reflection on the part of the Union Government which has failed to constitute the Cauvery Management Board as ordered by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal in 2007,” said RV Giri, president, Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), an umbrella organisation of various farmers associations in the country.
Govindrajan Satyamurty, political commentator, who has studied Cauvery river water issue for the last 35 years is of the view that a late spell of rain could salvage the Kuruvai . “If we can get reasonable rain by the first week of July, we can still go ahead with Kuruvai crop,” said Satyamurty.
The ruling AIADMK is busy fighting for the legacy of late J Jayalalithaa and the election symbol of the party. Though Edappady Palaniswamy, the Chief Minister was sounded about alternate solutions to save the farmers from water crisis instead of waging legal battle with Karnataka for the Cauvery waters, the Tamil Nadu Government has not taken any action till date to implement the proposals.
Subramanian Swamy, senior BJP leader and MP, had written to the Chief Minister about setting up of a series of desalination plants along the Tamil Nadu coast to address the problem of water shortage.
Scientists of the Atomic Energy Commission, who have successfully set up desalination plants for Madras Atomic Power Station and Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plants too supported the proposals of Swamy. But the Tamil Nadu Government is yet to take any action over the proposals.
Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly’s 24 day session is beginning on June 14 after a brief hiatus. The session will take up demand for grants by various departments. But what makes the session interesting is that the ruling AIADMK, which has 134 MlAs in the house of 234 members is split into three factions as on Monday.
Palaniswamy claims his faction has 122 MlAs while the Panneerselvam faction claims the support of 12 members. TTV Dinakaran, nephew of the jailed party general secretary VK Sasikala, has claimed the support of 30 MlAs belonging to the Palaniswamy faction, bringing doubts about the stability of the Government which just completed its first year in office.
A recharged opposition led by the DMK is all set to mount an offensive against the Government in the House for its failures and shortcomings. In which way the three factions of the AIADMK would vote in the eventuality of any resolutions in the House will be interesting to note.
“There is uncertainty in Tamil Nadu politics and there is no governance worth its name But the government will not fall as the AIADMK MlAs know too well that they would never see the House again if an election is held now,” said Satyamurty who feels there would be lot of tamasha in the House.