He said, “While other states have allocated lakhs of crores of rupees for water management, only Rs 8,000 crore has been allocated for irrigation projects in Tamil Nadu. Our demand is to build check dams on all the rivers."
Coimbatore: Pattali Makkal Katchi leader Anbumani Ramadoss, who arrived in Coimbatore by air to attend various programmes, met with the press to the media.
Speaking on the occasion, he said irrigation projects in the western region of Tamil Nadu should be completed and the government should give priority to water management in the entire State of Tamil Nadu. He also insisted on allocating more funds. "In the last few days, average global temperatures have reached a peak and we are going to face huge natural calamities," he said. For this, important water projects should be implemented and there should be no politics in the implementation of water management schemes, he said.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's statement that he would build the Mekedatu dam is condemnable and condemns the move to incite people to create law and order problems despite knowing that a dam cannot be constructed there, he said.
He said the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu have not done anything for water management in the last 50 years of rule. While other states have allocated lakhs of crores of rupees for water management, only Rs 8,000 crore has been allocated for irrigation projects in Tamil Nadu. Our demand is to build check dams on all the rivers," he said.
If check dams are constructed on the Cauvery river alone, up to 170 TMC of water can be saved and if pmk insists on the construction of 10 check dams on kollidam river, the government has given permission to open 10 quarries. He also criticized the construction of the check dam as it could not be taken out of sand.
He also said that tenements have been set up in forest areas in the Western Ghats and even recently, he appealed for a government job for the wife of a man who died after being trampled to death by an elephant.
Minister Gingee Mastan's statement that people were not affected by the price rise is not acceptable. Anbumani Ramadoss replied that he will be taken to every house in person and let him hear directly what people are saying. "If the government had set up cold storages at a time when tomato prices were very low last month, they could have stored them now and sold them at a lower price," he said. "With a population of 8 crore, if the Tamil Nadu government opens only 150 tomato outlets, is it enough?" he asked.
Similarly, the government is working towards imposing liquor and now Minister Muthusamy has taken charge as a minister for the department in place of senthil Balaji who was earlier in power. He said he was confident that he would reform it as he had a social interest. Tasmac management has closed only 65 shops in the northern region of Tamil Nadu, wherever liquor is available, no matter what time it is, he said. He alleged that while 4,700 TASMAC liquor shops were functioning with permission, 25,000 shops were functioning in total.
He pointed out that drugs were being circulated in prisons and that ganja was being circulated uninterruptedly everywhere and that despite repeated ly telling the Chief Minister about it, no action has been taken so far.
Similarly, the suicide of dig of west zone police has come as a big shock. He also urged that the incident should not be a public debate but a full declaration on the cause of the suicide.
Since it is a political meeting to be held on behalf of the opposition parties in Karnataka, it is different for the Chief Minister to attend it. But he should talk about the Mekedatu dam issue there and the Chief Minister should consider that if law and order is disrupted, the Tamils there will suffer," he said.
Chief Minister M K Stalin, who had said in his election manifesto that all women's rights would be entitled, said it was not acceptable to say that he would give it only to those who deserved it. He said the AIADMK's claim that there would be a political change in Tamil Nadu after the Madurai conference was only to encourage their cadres.
He said it would be good if minister Senthil Balaji's health was informed about his health and that good things would happen to the people only if the chief minister and the governor work together in Tamil Nadu. He also pointed out that since governors are like judges, they should act neutrally and not talk politics.
Asked if he had watched the movie 'Maamannan', he was asked by reporters. Anbumani Ramadoss says he hasn't seen the time yet. When the reporter countered the question whether he had not seen the film because of the casteist views in the film, PMK is not a casteist party and it is only PMK that has given the post of general secretary to a Dalit.
There was a heated argument over whether the DMK had given it and that the journalists should not raise questions with hatred. He continued to speak, He said the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) had started the parliamentary election work four months ago and the announcement of the alliance would be made only before the elections.