DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have announced a complete shutdown on April 5 following Union government’s failure to form the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Congress, communist parties, including CPI(M) and CPI and regional parties, including Viduthalai Chiruthai Katchi and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, have also extended their complete support to the shutdown.
People in the state are holding protests, fasts and demonstrations. They even hold protests on railway tracks in Salem and Tirunelveli, however, police managed to disperse them.
Reportedly shops in shops in Erode, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram have downed their shutters. Members of the DMK party, including leader MK Stalin along with its allies have gathered on the arterial Anna Salai and protested against the setting up the CMB.
In Puducherry, protestors damaged the buses belonging to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation and transport services were also affected.
DMK leader MK Stalin on April 1 had announced a “Cauvery Rights Retrieval Yatra” from the Cauvery Delta region to be held after the shutdown.
Stalin even added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cabinet ministers, who are scheduled to visit the state on 15 April, will be shown black flags.
Kamal Haasan, who has recently joined politics also support the protest and accused the centre and other political parties of diverting the attention of the people from the main issue.
The Supreme Court on February 16 reduced Tamil Nadu’s share of Cauvery water from 177.25 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), which was less than the 192 TMC allocated by a tribunal in 2007. This has increased Karnataka’s share of water by 14.75 TMC.
The Supreme Court on February 16 directed the centre to form the CMB to control the issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, within six weeks. Parties outraging protests as the deadline for the formation of CMB ended on March 29.
