After four days of volatile situation sparked by repeated attempts by villagers to cross into Kerala on the Mullaperiyar dam issue, the border areas in this Tamil Nadu district showed some signs of normalcy as police continued a close vigil.
Bus services, crippled by the protests, resumed while most business establishments and educational institutions started functioning, bringing relief to the Jayalalithaa government a day ahead of the special assembly session on the dam issue. The session is expected to pass a resolution that the state will not give up its rights over the dam due to 'imaginary threats' about its safety and security.
The DMK organised its second phase of protest on the issue holding a human chain in five southern districts fed by the Mullaperiyar dam for their irrigation needs. M. K. Stalin, senior party leader and son of DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, led the protest in Theni accusing politicians of Kerala of raking up the issue with an eye on an assembly byelection in that state which could impact stability of the Congress-led UDF government.
After being rocked by protests, Theni district remained incident-free today with collector K. C. Palanisamy describing the situation as ‘almost normal’. Police and revenue officials were closely monitoring the situation, he said.
The border areas in the district such as Cumbum, Gudalur and Lower Camp were gripped by tension in the past few days after the villagers, protesting Kerala's stand on the dam issue, attempted to march towards the state. But, they were stopped by police, who made baton charge to disperse them.
With Supreme Court on Tuesday rejecting Kerala's plea for lowering the water level in the dam to 120 feet, tension started easing in the border areas since last evening itself.
Officials said buses operated to all the border towns including Cumbum, Gudalur, Cumbum Mettu, Kumily Mettu and Bodi Mettu in the district by evening. The return of normalcy came a day after the Supreme Court rapped both Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments for ‘adding fuel to the fire’ by their statements and not ‘dousing’ it.
"We opened our shop as soon as the news about the Supreme Court order was seen on TV on Tuesday. We hope normalcy will be restored completely by tonight," K. Venkatesan, a shop owner in Gudalur, said.
Amid the friction between the two states, former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said the country cannot afford a civil war on water and suggested deployment of armed forces to maintain rivers and dams.
"Water cannot be a (source of) conflict in India. India cannot afford a civil war on water... Indian rivers and dams have to be operated and maintained by army, navy or other armed forces for equitable distribution," he said in Chennai.
Kalam said chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala should work for an amicable solution to the issue. Actor-turned politician Vijaykant led a demonstration by his party DMDK here and asked Tamil Nadu MPs to resign protesting against Kerala's stand on the issue. Kerala has mounted pressure on the Centre for a new dam citing safety concerns while Tamil Nadu has strongly opposed it saying the existing structure was safe.