Chennai: PMK, the political arm of the powerful Vanniyar community, is to rake up protests against Andhra Pradesh for constructing check dams across Kosasthalaiyar river without the consent of Tamil Nadu.
In a statement on Wednesday, PMK state president Anbumani Ramadoss said that even though the Kosasthalaiyar originates from Andhra Pradesh, it was filling up many water bodies in Tamil Nadu.
He said that it was flowing through the Kaveripakkam and Poondi reservoirs that provide drinking water to Chennai before it discharged into the sea at Ennore.
Ramadoss said that 60 per cent of Tiruvallur district is prosperous because of the water from Kosasthaliyar and said that if Andhra Pradesh was allowed to build a check dam across the river, then no drop of water would reach Tamil Nadu.
The former Union Health Minister said that the Andhra Pradesh government should have informed Tamil Nadu as it was the lower riparian state.
For building a reservoir across the river, the law requires permission from the lower riparian state, he added.
The PMK leader also said that of the 3,800 sq.km of area through which the river flows, 3,000 sq.km was in Tamil Nadu.
With 75 per cent of the river flowing through Tamil Nadu, the state has all the rights to ensure that check-dams are not built across the Kosasthilayar, Ramadoss added.
He also said that the Andhra Pradesh government has already constructed 22 check dams across the river in the past and this has led to the reduced flow of water through Tamil Nadu.
He said that further permitting the Andhra government to construct check dam across the river would lead to total dryness.
–IANS