DMK’s desilting mission to balance government’s failure: Stalin

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, who inaugurated the desilting work of the Periya Nachiamman temple tank in Tennur here, said that the DMK would not succumb to such pressure tactics and retreat from the drive that has been going on in a good pace. 

Talking to reporters, he said that poor maintenance of water bodies was one of the main reasons for the present acute drinking water shortage in the state. Because of this, the DMK launched a mission to desilt all water bodies, including those under the control of the state government and private groups. “DMK has already sought permission for the drive from the departments concerned and officials have also expressed support for the desilting works. This will help revive the waterbodies,” said Stalin. 

Pointing out that the desilting of waterbodies were taken up only during the DMK regime, Stalin said that the AIADMK during its previous term from 2011-16 and in the present benami government had not initiated any step to revive or desilt the waterbodies. “So, I made an appeal to the party workers to initiate a drive under which the Tennur temple tank, which had not been desilted for over 77 years, has been cleaned up now”, said Stalin after showing pictures of the tank’s previous condition and asked the journalists to take a look at its present condition.

Meanwhile, the opposition leader charged that the government had been threatening them to stop the desilting works and they even exerted pressure to stop the mission. “We have obtained proper permission from the private trust which owns the tank and the work went on in a smooth manner on Wednesday,” he said. 

The DMK working president further said that the desilting works across the state was being personally monitored by him. 

When asked about the expenditure for the works in Tiruchy, Stalin replied that they had spent around Rs 5 lakh for the purpose and added that the works would be completed within five days. 

Even as the DMK undertook the desilting of the Periya Nachiamman temple tank situated in Tennur here, the HR and CE department countered their claim of not cleaning the tank for several decades by issuing a statement that the facility had already been desilted by the department between May 13 and 16, a day before the launch of the DMK’s scheduled desilting programme. The department had also produced pictures as visual evidence to prove their claim.

The statement issued by the HR and CE Tiruchy zonal joint director on Wednesday said that the department had already instructed to desilt the temple tanks across the state and based on the instruction, the tank of Arulmigu Periya Nachiamman temple owned by five sects of Chettiyar community, was been desilted from May 13 to May 16. As many as 207 workers were involved and the entire 2-acre tank was cleaned and vegetation removed.

DMK working president and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly MK Stalin has urged the CBI not to act like a BJP’s alliance partner. He also asked to bring out the truth about the raids on Health Minister Vijaya Baskar’s house and establishments as they were now keen on acting against the Congress leader and ex-finance minister P Chidambaram. 

Talking to reporters here, Stalin said that the former union finance minister would face the situation legally which he had already opined. But, the CBI should provide the present status of the raids on minister Vijaya Baskar’s house, Chief Secretary Rammohan Rao’s office and house and his son’s house. 

“The government besides making public the status of those raids should also initiate action against them”, said Stalin. The DMK working president cautioned that the CBI, nation’s premier investigating agency, should work in an independent manner without giving room to any political debate.