UNI

Chennai, Mar 10: The members of the Cauveri Delta Traditional Rights Retrieval Committee will undertake a 14-day padayatra from Poompuhar to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka border near Mettur Dam from March 12.

Organizer of the Committee M Natarajan, who will lead the march, told newspersons here today that the padayatra was to protect the rights of Tamil Nadu, besides protesting against the alleged injustice meted out to the state in the final verdict of the Cauveri Water Disputes Tribunal.

He said after a long wait of over 17 years, the Tribunal had awarded only 192 TMC of water to Tamil Nadu as against its interim award of 205 TMC of water.

Natarajan, who is also editor of 'Tamilarasi' weekly, accused the DMK Gopvernment of not registering its protest properly in this regard.

He also alleged that Union Minister of State Ambareesh, hailing from Karnataka, had resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against the Tribunal's final award. But, the Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu have not even raised their protest.

He alleged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who is supposed to expose the loss to the farmers of the Delta region, was hesitating to protest in this regard.

He also charged that Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Duraimurugan, who did not fully understand the final verdict of the Tribunal, and the Union Ministers, who were fully aware of the verdict of the Tribunal, were inefficient, he added.

The other members of the Committee said the Padayatra would create awareness among farmers in the Delta region about the final verdict of the Tribunal. They will be distributing hand bills on the adverse impact of the final verdict, the ruling DMK Government's failure to protect their interest as well as the rights of Tamil Nadu.