Farmers detained for staging road blockade on Thoothukudi-Palayamkottai highway demanding water release to tail-end areas
Around 80 farmers were detained by police in Tamil Nadu, India, after staging a road blockade to protest the lack of water release for irrigation. The farmers claim that withered crops and a lack of drinking water for cattle have resulted from the government's failure to supply water to tail-end areas.
Why it matters
This highlights ongoing tensions between agricultural communities and government authorities regarding water resource management and irrigation infrastructure in India.
Around 80 farmers were detained by the Thoothukudi district police on Friday after they staged a road blockade at Thattaparai junction on Thoothukudi-Palayamkottai highway, demanding the release of water to the tail-end areas under the Srivaikuntam’s northern canal ( vadakaal ) irrigation system.
The farmers parked tractors across the highway and placed withered banana plants on the road as part of their protest.
The protesting farmers said that water has not been released until tail-end irrigation tanks for the past six months, including Korampallam under the Srivaikuntam’s northern canal irrigation system in the district. As a result, banana crops cultivated by farmers depending on these tanks have withered, along with lack of drinking water for the cattle in the affected villages, they added.
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