New Delhi: Tamil Nadu is observing a dawn-to-dusk bandh supported by Opposition parties on Friday on the Cauvery water sharing row.
Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Pon Radhakrishnan meets Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and lauds her for “patiently” handling the ongoing Cauvery crisis.
With Mettur Dam witnessing steady inflows following Karnataka’s release of water from the Cauvery River, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa orders opening its sluice gates for irrigating samba crops in the delta districts. “To enable farmers take up samba cultivation, I have directed release of water from Mettur Dam from September 20, 2016,” she says.
A Puducherry report says an effigy of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was burnt outside the bus terminal by some agitators and that the flames were doused by police. A Puducherry Road Transport Corporation was stoned on Vazhudavoor road, following which it was brought to the shed. No passenger was injured, police said.
Large-scale demonstrations were on in Thanjavur and the Cauvery delta region by VCK, MDMK and Left parties.
The bandh has not affected functioning of state and central government offices in Tamil Nadu, which remain open.
While state transport corporation-run buses besides trains are operating as usual, some autorickshaws, taxis and commercial freight operators stayed off the roads.
A youth, who had set himself on fire over the Cauvery issue yesterday, succumbed to injuries today.
Several establishments remain shut in Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Nilgiris districts, affecting normal life, in response to the bandh call. About 20,000 small and medium scale units in and around the city and over 30,000 garment factories in the textile hub of Tirupur extend support to the bandh and down shutters, according to reports.
VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan, who staged a rail roko with his supporters by blocking a North India-bound express train, was detained by police near Basin Bridge.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko has been detained in Tiruchirappalli during protest over Cauvery issue.
Bureau Report
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