Puducherry: The Puducherry Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Central government to withdraw the permission given to Karnataka for a detailed project report (DPR) on its proposed dam across the Cauvery river at Mekedattu.
The specially convened session of the Assembly passed the resolution moved by Chief Minister V Narayansamy with the support of Opposition parties including All India NR Congress (AINRC) and AIADMK.
The resolution moved by the Chief Minister said that any construction work in the river would affect the interests of farmers in Karaiakal region which is one among lower riparian states depending on Cauvery water.
“The Puducherry government and the Assembly register a strong protest against the move of Karnataka and condemn the proposal in no uncertain terms,”the resolution said.
The resolution also criticised the Central government for giving permission to Karanataka for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and urged the ministry to withdraw the permission given to Karnataka without consulting the riparian states.
The Congress government and the Opposition parties say that the proposed dam would affect the rights of people living in Karaikal region.
Earlier, the House commenced the proceedings at 10 am, with obituary references to leaders including former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, former Lok Sabha speaker Somanath Chatterjee, former Secretary General of United Nations Kofi Annan and former Puducherry minister, Kasilingam.
This session was the first one after the Supreme Court had upheld the appointment of three BJP leaders as nominated members of the House.
All eyes were on the nominated members on how they would respond to the resolution condemning the Centre for giving permission to the Karnataka government for preparing DPR for the dam.
Surprisingly, the BJP members supported the resolution and said that they would not oppose anything that would affect the interest of the people here.
While participating in discussions after the obituary resolution, BJP member V Saminathan also demanded to build a statue of former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee in the Union Territory and to name Puducherry airport after him.
The Assembly was adjourned sine die after the adoption of the resolution..
