Major Opposition parties led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will on April 25 organise a day-long strike to demand a crop loan waiver for Tamil Nadu’s farmers and to press for its rights in inter-State river water sharing. The resolutions were adopted at a multi-party meeting called by the DMK on Sunday.
Opposition leaders, including those from the Congress and the CPI(M), urged the State government to convene a special session of the State Assembly to discuss the problems faced by the farmers.
ResolutionsOutlining the resolutions adopted at the meeting, DMK Working President MK Stalin said the Opposition leaders and farmers will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand farm loan waiver and press for the creation of a Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Management Committee.
They will also demand State support for the families of farmers who committed suicide, scrapping of coalbed methane and hydrocarbon projects.
They will seek the status of a special agriculture zone for the Cauvery Delta and fair price fixed for paddy and sugarcane. Raising the water level in Mullaperiyar dam to 152 feet and barring Kerala from building dams and check dams in inter-State rivers are the other demands.
An all-party public meeting will be organised on April 22 to highlight the issues ahead of the strike.