Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Farmers' plea to Karunanidhi

T. Ramakrishnan

Southern States should work out a common plan for agriculture "Strive for consensus on interlinking of rivers"

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's passionate reiteration of interlinking of rivers in the last one week has prompted farmers to demand that he work for evolving a consensus among his counterparts in the southern region, and all the parties in the State.

Backing Mr. Karuananidhi's point, Cauvery Delta Farmers' Welfare Association general secretary S. Ranganathan calls for a perfect understanding and coordination among the southern States. "Let all the Chief Ministers and the Union Minister for Water Resources sit together and discuss their requirements and problems. Being the senior most leader, Mr. Karunanidhi should take the initiative for organising such a discussion."

Experts and Central authorities have estimated the quantum of water going waste from west-flowing rivers. So, what is needed is that all the States should come together, sinking their differences.

Noting that agriculture in the south of the Vindhyas is different from north, Mr. Ranganathan suggests that the southern States work out a collective and common plan for agriculture. This is for the benefit of all the States. For instance, he says, the delta regions of the Cauvery, the Krishna and the Godavari in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh may be identified for raising paddy while Kerala and parts of Karnataka may be earmarked for hill produces. Some other parts of the region can grow dry crops.

L. Ganesan, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit, which has been projecting interlinking of rivers as its pet project, has urged the Chief Minister to hold an all-party conference. Last month, in a private talk with Mr. Karunanidhi, Mr. Ganesan offered his party's cooperation if the Chief Minister took an initiative for interlinking of rivers. He recalls that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, in the run-up to the May 2004 Lok Sabha election, promised that in the event of retaining power, it would lay the foundation for the project in August that year.

Blaming the Union Government for abandoning the efforts initiated by the NDA regime, Mr. Ganesan says the State Government should exert more pressure on the Centre. If the Chief Minister gets the support of all the parties, the Centre will have to respond.

Kerala's reservations

As for the reservations on the part of Kerala about interlinking of rivers, D. Gangappa, convener of the Bangalore-based Akhil Bharat Jala Sangama Andolan (All-India Movement for Confluence of Water), and former IAS officer, says surplus water from the Western Ghats can be diverted through tunnels as it is done in Canada. At appropriate places, smaller storage points may have to be constructed. The existing dams can be used for storing the additional water. This approach, he argues, will not have any adverse impact on any State.

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