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SC's clarion call has a salutary effect

Last Updated 14 December 2011, 18:34 IST

It came on eve of a special Tamil Nadu Assembly session to discuss the crisis.
Several towns in Theni district bordering the Mullaperiyar dam catchment area, began to limp back to normalcy, police said.

Many shops in places like Cumbum and Theni town opened on Wednesday after nine days of closure, and schools also opened.

The normalcy march was punctured, by two big parties, the DMK and actor-politician Vijayakant-led DMDK, jumpi­ng into the protest fray in the Theni district. Some sporadic incidents of picketing by farmers for “saving the Mullaperiyar dam”, were reported. 

While the DMK’s youth wing leader and party Treasurer, M K Stalin, led an impressive human chain protest in Theni on Wednesday evening, simultaneously senior DMK leaders, including Prof K Anbazhagan, led human chain formations at Madurai, Dindigul, Raman­athapuram and Sivaganga districts, the five areas directly dependent on Mullaperiyar water.

The protestors shouted slogans against Kerala “not to deprive Tamil Nadu of its due share of water.” Stalin in a spirited speech at Theni said Kerala had “deliberately” raked up this issue as part of a “design” with an ensuing Assembly by-election in mind.

Leading a massive protest demonstration, Vijayakant, along with the DM­DK Presidium Chairman, Panr­­uti S Ramachandran, de­m­anded that the Central Government take over the dam site to avert any conflict between the two states.

Thousands of women sought to march into Kerala via the border checkpost town of Kumuli. But stopped in advance by the police, prompted them to squat on the road and block traffic.
Despite these protests, the ground situation in Theni district showed a dramatic qualitative improvement.

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(Published 14 December 2011, 18:34 IST)

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