DMK accuses CM Palaniswami of 'deception' over giving Cauvery districts a protected tag

A day after Chief Minister K Palaniswami announced that Cauvery delta districts will be declared a special protected agricultural zone, DMK accused him of double standards on the issue and demanded that he pass a Cabinet resolution against hydrocarbon projects and cancel ongoing initiatives.

On the one hand, the government extended cooperation for hydrocarbon projects and on the other announced a protection tag to delta districts, which only showed the 'double standards' of the Chief Minister, senior Dravidian party leader K N Nehru alleged.

While the Centre has already accorded sanction for hydrocarbon projects in Tamil Nadu and announced that environmental clearance was not needed for drilling wells, Palaniswami's assertion that no permission would be given for such proposals was a deception, he said. Hitting out at the Chief Minister for blaming his party over the hydrocarbon projects, Nehru, who is the DMK's principal secretary, demanded that the government first pass a Cabinet resolution against hydrocarbon projects.

Ongoing initiatives related to hydrocarbon projects must be stopped, he said in a statement published in the party organ 'Murasoli.' Also, Nehru demanded that the government pass a Bill to bestow special farm status to Cauvery delta districts right in the coming Assembly session commencing on February 14 "without going back on the move fearing the BJP government at the Centre." Palaniswami on Sunday said eight Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu, including the rice bowl, Thanjavur, would be categorised as a special protected agricultural zone and assured that permission would not be given for hydrocarbon projects.

Also, he assured enactment of a law to confer the protected status to the delta districts. He had accused DMK for "sowing the seeds" for the hydrocarbon project in the state. Following the finding of methane gas in Rajasthan, DMK leader T R Baalu, who was then the Petroleum Minister got the Union government's nod in 2010 for a similar initiative in the State, he alleged.

To guard the delta areas and end farmers' ordeals, special protection will be bestowed on Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagappattinam, Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Karur and Tiruchirappalli districts, he had said.

Image Credit-PTI