Mullaperiyar row: South TN partners down shutters against Kerala government

The
Mullaperiyar issue between Tamil Nadu and Kerala is worsening
day-by-day with reported incidents of attacks on Sabarimala
pilgrimages, and transport services getting affected with busses kept
off the roads. The IT industry in that area too was affected by the
ongoing protests.

Even though,
the issue is burning in the Mullaperiyar-beneficiary districts like
Madurai, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Dindigul, one town
where the situation is highly worsened is Cumbum, a town in Theni
district, Tamil Nadu, which is just 16 km away from Kerala's
border. If sources are to be believed, there are total three shops in
Cumbum Since all shops were closed, the channel partners in the town
stopped their operations. “People in our town are afraid of coming
out, therefore our basic operations are spoiled by the riots. We did
not open our shops for the past 15 days,” Praveen Kumar, a partner
from Cumbum and VP of Information Technology Association of Theni
(ITAT) told The DQ Week. The partners in the Theni district are sure
of not letting any move which will affect agriculture, the key
business of the district. “More than 80% of people in Theni
district depend on the water from thedam. We do not want the Kerala
government to act against the lifeline of our people,” said K
Subburaj, secretary, ITAT. Speaking about the business of partners
here, he said, “Our business is depended upon farmers, who buy
laptops or desktops for their children or some small agro-based small
offices. The channel community is always committed to help farmers.”
“If there is no agriculture, no business including IT can survive
and a pathetic situation will rise where we have to migrate to bigger
cities in view of new office or we have to start some other
business,” he concluded. “The dam should not be destroyed at any
cost and the water level should be increased

in the dam.
We also demand the central government to look at the issue
immediately,” said J Ramesh Kumar, a partner from Theni. Sources
say that except basic amneties, local transport, hospitals and other
business activities were also affected in the chaos. The neighbouring
associations too have rendered a helping hand to ITAT. “Every
Indian citizen comes under the Apex Court, and we want Kerala
Government to respect it. Demanding that, we have paused our
operations for a day,” said P Danapal, president, Computer Sellers
and Welfare Association of Dindigul (COSWAD). He also told that
COSWAD will always support ITAT in all means.

RALLY AND
BANDH :

Demanding
the
Kerala government not to construct a new dam and to raise the water
level of the dam to 152 ft, create a peaceful living condition for
Tamils residing in Kerala, immediate intervention of the Central
Government into the issue, ITAT organized a rally at Theni on 17
December. Nearly 120 members including the association members,
members from neighboring district associations and their employees
participated in the rally. Also, on December 22, 2011, the partners
in Madurai, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Dindigul closed the
shutters for a day to raise their voice against the Kerala
government.