Chennai, April 17: DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an appointment on behalf of political parties, farmers associations, traders' groups and labour unions to appraise him of the Cauvery water dispute.
"Through this letter, we seek an appointment to meet and apprise you of the sentiments prevailing in Tamil Nadu and urge you to intervene in this issue immediately," Stalin wrote.
He said the Supreme Court had on February 15 directed the Centre to frame a scheme within six weeks so that the final award delivered by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, which has the status of a decree, is effectively put into operation, and the decades-long dispute is resolved once and for all.
Stalin said that at an all-party meeting chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, three resolutions were passed of which one was to meet the Prime Minister to explain the prevailing situation and seek his intervention in constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
"Furthermore, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on March 15 demanding the immediate formation of the CMB. We believe that this unanimous resolution reflects the aspirations and sentiments of the seven-and-a-half crore people of Tamil Nadu.
"It is fair to say that the people of Tamil Nadu have given up hope that the current (state) government will effectively represent their voice or ensure that their rights are protected.
"Therefore, I seek an appointment with you at which all party leaders from Tamil Nadu can apprise you of the looming agricultural crisis in the state, as well as the outpouring of public sentiment because of the non-implementation of the Supreme Court judgment," Stalin said.
The DMK leader also urged Modi to direct the Ministry of Water Resources to withdraw a Clarification Petition pending before the apex court immediately and set up the CMB without waiting for the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.
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Rupee falls 5 paise to 90.23 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 5 paise to 90.23 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, driven by rising crude oil prices and an unabated outflow of foreign funds.
According to forex traders, a volatile geopolitical situation and concerns over further US tariffs on Indian exports fueled the selling of Indian stocks by foreign institutional investors, even as traders awaited cues from macroeconomic data to be released this week.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.23 and stayed weaker by 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee fell 28 paise to close at 90.18 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent lower at 98.75.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at USD 63.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 356.49 points or 0.43 per cent to 83,219.75, while the Nifty dipped 94.90 points or 0.37 per cent to 25,588.40.
Analysts said several factors like the development related to Venezuela, Iran and US President Donald Trump's possible move towards Greenland are influencing the sentiment worldwide.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,769.31 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed India's forex reserves dropped by USD 9.809 billion to USD 686.801 billion in the week to January 2. In the previous reporting week, the forex reserves had jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion.
