Chennai, April 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Thursday amid growing political turmoil over the Cauvery water issue and black flag protests by Opposition parties.
Modi, who arrived by a special aircraft from New Delhi, was received at the airport by Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Pon Radhakrishnan, Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister E. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan.
After a brief reception, he left for Mamallapuram, about 55 km from here, from where he would reach the temple town of Tiruvidanthai to formally inaugurate the Defence Expo-2018, which began here on Wednesday.
Later, he would unveil the diamond jubilee plaque at the Adyar Cancer Institute.
Earlier, a press conference was planned with the Prime Minister at the IIT-Madras, adjacent to the Cancer Institute, but it failed to materialise.
The police have made tight security arrangements in view of the visit.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the DMK, various fringe outfits and Tamil organisations greeted the Prime Minister with black flag protests to condemn the Centre for its failure to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) as directed by the Supreme Court.
The six-week deadline set by the Apex Court ended on March 29 and the Centre, keeping the next month's Assembly elections in Karnataka in mind, filed a clarification plea in the Court at the last minute and sought three months time to implement its order, by which time the polling process in the neighbouring state would have been concluded.
DMK leader M.K. Stalin, along with his party cadres, protested in Sirkazhi, Nagapattinam district, by wearing black shirts.
The DMK has appealed to the people to hoist black flags atop their houses and stage demonstrations against the Prime Minister.
Activists of fringe parties including the Tamizhaga Vaazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) led by T. Velmurugan, Tamil Nationalist Movement headed by P. Nedumaran also staged demonstration in front of the Alandur Metro station in Chennai.
MLAs Tamimum Ansari and Thaniarasi along with SDPI members were arrested in Tirisoolam near the airport.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
