Chennai : Stirs, including rail blockades, by political parties and other outfits for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) continued on Saturday in several parts of Tamil Nadu.
Protesters are demanding the CMB be set up at the earliest to implement the Supreme Court’s February 16 verdict on water allocation among the riparian states.
The apex court though had reduced Tamil Nadu’s share of Cauvery water, it had allowed it to extract 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin to tackle its pressing need for the drinking water.
In Thanjavur, members of the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Association (CRRA) blocked rail traffic, affecting services for some time. Two express trains were stopped by the protesters.
In a different incident, an agitation was staged near the post office by another outfit.
Cadres of an ultra Left outfit at Tircuhirapalli held a rally over the Cauvery and defaced the Tamil name board of the Hindi Prachar Sabha. They also allegedly burnt BJP flags. Farmers and cadres of a pro-Tamil outfit also held a protest separately.
DMK Working President M K Stalin too on Saturday began a mega rally over the Cauvery issue, that will cover the delta regions of Tamil Nadu, seeking immediate setting up of a management board to ensure release of water for farmers.
Days after holding a state-wide shutdown steered by his party on the river water issue, Stalin began his rally from the dry river banks of river Cauvery at suburban Mukkombu here, in which tens of hundreds of cadres of DMK and other opposition parties participated.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday discussed with his cabinet colleagues the next legal steps over Tamil Nadu’s plea in the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against the Centre for not constituting the Cauvery Management Board within the stipulated period of six weeks.