The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : DPA constituents adopting defensive approach

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 11, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

DPA constituents adopting defensive approach

By A.V. Ragunathan

CUDDALORE, APRIL 10. Though the constituents of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) see the issue of sinking deep borewells in the Gadilam-Paravanar river bed as a trump card against the ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), they seem to have applied the brakes on making it a campaign issue. They want to strike a balance between the requirements of the local people and Chennaiites without affecting the DPA electoral prospects. Though it is deemed a major weapon in its armoury, the DPA is defensive as it may also boomerang.

Almost all the alliance partners including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), and the Congress are unanimous that sinking of 45 giant borewells in the Gadilam-Paravanar riverbeds to carry water to Chennai will rapidly exhaust the aquifer and it will be impossible to replenish the source artificially.

The parties are concerned that the move would render the region arid and make it prone to natural calamities such as earthquake. But in electoral politics, the parties are weighing the options carefully: to rake up the ecology issue and wreck their chances, particularly in Chennai constituencies, or take up the issue in the post-election period when the situation is conducive.

While the local leaders are too eager to make it a major election issue, championing the cause of the people who are facing imminent threat, their leaders in the headquarters seem to have advised them not to precipitate matters at this crucial juncture. The leaders fear that if they bring the issue to the limelight, they would be creating an impression among Chennaiites that they are least concerned about tackling the acute water scarcity in the metropolis.

Once this feeling sinks into the minds of Chennaiites, the DPA candidates may have a hard time in the elections in Chennai. Therefore, it is tightrope walking for the DPA leaders and they are in a dilemma.

The first hint of cautiousness on the part of the leaders came when the CPI cancelled its plan to lay siege to the Vadakuthu treatment plant near Neyveli (where borewell water would be collected and purified) on April 8. According to information here, party leaders told their cadres not to do anything that would harm the DPA's electoral chances.

Therefore, now it is left to the people in the region to take up the issue on their own.

T. Velmurugan, PMK MLA, says that owing to drought for three successive years, the groundwater level has gone down drastically, resulting in an increase in electricity charges to farmers.

If the proposed giant borewells become functional, the lot of farmers and people in the region would deteriorate beyond redemption. The PMK would take up their cause at an appropriate time, he said.

T. Manivasagam and S. Dhanasekaran, district secretaries of the CPI and the CPI(M), are also of the view that the new Veeranam project and the contingency plan to tap groundwater should be given up. But they are yet to plan a protest and Congress circles also endorse their observations.

The vacillation on the part of the DPA has given the leverage to the AIADMK Government to go ahead with the project(s) undeterred.

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