OPPOSITION Parties Will Shutdown TN On April 5 Demanding Cauvery Management Board

AS the Union Government has petitioned The Supreme Court of India for extension of the deadline for the constitution of the Cauvery Board for sharing water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, Tamil Nadu’s major opposition have decided hold state-wide protest on April 5.They have condemning the Modi government and the Tamil Nadu government for “betraying” the state on the Cauvery river issue at a meeting in Chennai. The meeting was held at the DMK headquarters in Tamil Nadu’s capital. The DMK said in a statement that the Central government had failed to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) within six weeks of the apex court’s order of February 16.The six-week deadline ended on March 29. The meeting also decided to organise a ‘Securing Cauvery Rights March’ from the Cauvery Delta region in the state to Raj Bhavan here. Leaders of all political parties and people from other walks of life would participate in the march. Black flags will be shown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi whenever he comes to Tamil Nadu for not constituting the CM.The meeting denounced the BJP-led central government for acting in the narrow interests of the party vis-a-vis upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka and squeezing the rights of Tamil Nadu by misusing its powers in the Cauvery issue. Poll bound Karnataka is opposed to CM.The meeting also condemned the Tamil Nadu government for being an “inseparable partner” of the Central government in the latter’s act of taking away the state’s rights. The opposition parties led by DMK have also slammed ruling AIADMK for not putting pressure on the Modi government despite having 50 MPs.Meanwhile, DMK and AIADMK continued to raise slogans in favour of KMB in Parliament. Later, speaking to reporters, DMK leader M.K. Stalin said he requested traders associations to postpone their strike from April 3 to April 5.Meanwhile, The Tamil Nadu Government on Saturday moved the Supreme Court to initiate contempt proceedings against the Central government for its “wilful disobedience” of the February 16 court judgment on the Cauvery dispute mandating it to frame a scheme to set up a Cauvery management board and a Cauvery water regulation committee to monitor  the allocation of the river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. Tamil Nadu has accused the Centre of refusing to act to “protect the interests of the farmers and the larger interests of the State”. The contempt petition wants the apex court to “purge the contempt forthwith” by directing the Centre to frame a scheme by providing for a management board and a water regulation committee as per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s order of 2007.ril 5.The Hindu reports .The 765 km Cauvery River with about 8 KM basin originates in present Karnataka State in Southern India and flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is the third largest river after Godavari and Krishna in south India and the largest one in Tamil Nadu .It flows generally south and east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and across the southern Deccan plateau through the south-eastern lowlands joining the Bay of Bengal through two principal mouths in Poompuhar, Tamil Nadu. Amongst the river valleys, the Kaveri delta forms one of the most fertile regions in the country. Farmers of the southern states need water for irrigation, drinking and other purposes.(pic : Courtesy The Deccan Chronicle)