The Tamil Nadu Assembly Saturday witnessed heated debate over issues including the Cauvery with the ruling and opposition parties trading charges but both were united against the Centre's dam safety Bill.
As soon as the Leader of Opposition M K Stalin raised the Cauvery and Mekedatu issues, Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar countered him asking what his party did to resolve Tamil Nadu's lifeline issues when it was part of several governments at the Centre for 17 years.
River sharing issues like Cauvery and Mullaperiyar could have been resolved by them while they were part of the Centre, the minister said.
However, the leader of opposition was now offering free advice to the government, he lashed out.
This sparked a row with opposition members disagreeing with it and DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan listing his party's initiatives on Cauvery issue.
Stalin reeled out several initiatives including those related to State autonomy, preventing privatisation of Salem Steel plant and initiating the Sethu Samudram canal Project.
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Despite Tamil Nadu's demand the Centre has not appointed a permanent chairperson for the Cauvery Management Authority, the opposition leader said.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami said his Cabinet colleague only pointed out that the key issues could have been addressed since the DMK had an opportunity to be part of governments at the Centre.
"This is an emotive issue, we are only saying you missed the opportunity," he said.
Palaniswami said the state has gone to the Supreme Court over appointment of a permanent chairperson and against the Mekedatu dam initiative.
Stalin, earlier speaking on a calling attention motion, wanted Palaniswami to strongly oppose the Dam Safety Bill and uphold the rights of Tamil Nadu.
He said it was anguishing that the Union government was trying to capture control of dams in all states in the name of safety and it was an effort to concentrate power at the Centre.
The Mullaiperiyar, Parambikkulam, Thunakkadavu and Peruvaripallam dams though situated in Kerala are owned by Tamil Nadu, the DMK leader recalled.
The leader of opposition said it was atrocious that the Bill aimed at taking of control of such dams which came under Tamil Nadu.
Responding, Palaniswami said his government will continue to take all steps to safeguard the rights of Tamil Nadu over the four dams located in the neighbouring State.
Giving a background to the issue, he said when the Centre introduced the Bill (2018 December) in the Lok Sabha, he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the Bill's withdrawal till such time it was accepted by all the states.
Prior to that, when a draft Bill was circulated to States in 2016, it was pointed out that it was not acceptable to Tamil Nadu since it does not have clauses on dams owned by one state being located in another State.
The four dams including Mullaperiyar were built, operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu under a bilateral agreement with Kerala, he pointed out.
The draft Bill's withdrawal was sought and a resolution was also adopted in the Assembly on June 26, 2018 urging the same. As per section 23 (1) of the Dam Safety Bill, 2018, if a dam owned by one state was situated in another state, it will come under the proposed National Dam Safety Authority.
Under that provision, envisaging a committee comprising representatives of the upper and lower riparian states was interference in the rights of Tamil Nadu and contravened the principles of federalism and Constitution.
Hence, it was urged to amend that section bringing the dams under the control of the state which owned it and giving full rights to the state's officials involved in maintenance of dams to traverse the forests and sanctuaries where the reservoirs are located.
"The government is continuously taking steps to uphold Tamil Nadu's rights through withdrawal of the 2018 Bill," the Chief Minister said.
Also, he recalled the several letters and memorandum to the Prime Minister that setting up a National Dam Safety Authority was interference in the rights of the states.
On Stalin's poser over freeing seven Rajiv case convicts, Palaniswami said the government has already recommended their release and the matter was now with the Governor.
The Assembly later adopted as many as 16 Bills including those related to municipal and panchayat laws extending the terms of special officers in local bodies upto December 31, 2019 amid DMK's opposition which sought early civic polls.
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said 500 houses will be allotted for repatriates in 2019-20 under the Housing for All scheme and assured new houses for MLAs at an appropriate place provided they do not have houses allotted under the TN Housing Board.
The Assembly, which had been convened on June 28, was adjourned sine die Saturday by Speaker P Dhanapal.
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