Life was back to normal in Tamil Nadu on Saturday following a peaceful dawn-to-dusk shutdown Friday on the Cauvery waters dispute, marred only by the death of a self-immolation victim.
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Police took into custody leaders and cadres of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and other parties who tried to stage demonstrations on railway tracks and roads.
In Nagapattinam, buses, auto-rikshaws and taxis were playing on the streets.
VCK Chief Thol Thirumavalavan, who staged a rail roko with his supporters by blocking an express train, was detained by police near Basin Bridge in Chennai.
The warning comes in the light of police findings that the trigger for violence over the Cauvery issue in Bengaluru on September 12 was the circulation of a video on social media and eventually on television channels of a Tamil youth being roughed up by Kannada activists for some provocative statements the youth made against activists on social media. Thanjavur District Cauvery Farmers’ Protection Association secretary Swamimalai R Vimalnathan said the entire delta region was facing a drought-like condition.
“We have deployed enough security at all the 16 entry points on state and national highways from where people and vehicles pass through to and from Tamil Nadu”, start Inspector General of Police (central) Seemanth Kumar Singh told reporters at Attibele in the city’s southern part.
Almost 15 attempts to picket trains were reported and in some places of the capital city, effigies of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were burnt. A Puducherry Road Transport Corporation was stoned on Vazhudavoor road, following which it was brought to the shed.
The BJP workers took out a procession and raised slogans, condemning the attack on Tamils in Karnataka and staged a picketing near the bus stand.
Police patrolling was intensified and all vulnerable areas were taken care of, a senior police officer said.
“To enable farmers take up samba cultivation, I have directed release of water from Mettur Dam from 20 September, 2016”, she said.
He said that the Cauvery water disputes tribunal, in its final order, had provided a provision for the riparian States to find a solution to any dispute in an emergency through mutual understanding and agreement. She said the Centre can not “keep away” from the Cauvery issue, adding efforts should have been made earlier to protect Tamil people and their properties in Karnataka.
The protests erupted after the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release water from the river to ease the shortage in Tamil Nadu until later this month.
With no reply to his letter or an appointment to meet, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being indifferent to the state over the raging Cauvery river water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu.
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Jayalalithaa said that the court’s direction was sought after her government’s communication to Karnataka seeking release of its share of water from Cauvery and to Centre urging its intervention did not yield any results.
