MDMK general secretary Vaiko addressing participants at a hunger strike organised at Vasudevanallur in Tenkasi district on Friday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Accompanied by party cadre, farmers and the public, MDMK general secretary Vaiko observed hunger strike at Vasudevanallur in the district demanding the reconstruction of the badly damaged Shenbhagavalli check dam in the Western Ghats as it can revive farming operations on 25,000 acres of lands in Tenkasi and neighbouring Virudhunagar districts.The badly damaged ‘Shenbhagavalli’ check dam is in the Western Ghats west of Vasudevanallur and located within Kerala boundary. The check dam was built in 1733 at the junction of jungle streams Puliyampatti and Chokkanpatti in the Western Ghats to divert the water going waste into the Periyar jungles to Rasingaperi and Kulasekaraperi tanks in Sivagiri Taluk for raising crop on over 12,000 acres. The check dam also provided succour to crops raised on over 5,000 acres in Vasudevanallur Assembly constituency alone.After heavy downpour damaged the check dam, Tamil Nadu Government repaired it between 1959 and 1962 and the major breach caused by heavy downpour rendered it useless in 1967. When the then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran sent ₹5.15 lakh to the Government of Kerala to reconstruct the damaged portion, the money was returned back in 2006 as the neighbouring State was not interested in repairing the structure.Interestingly, even the CPI (M) governments in Kerala were not in favour of rebuilding this check dam to resurrect farming in this region which does not have any systemised irrigation like Chittar and Tamirabharani basins. Even though the political parties promise the voters of reconstructing the damaged Shenbhagavalli check-dam during the elections including the recently concluded Assembly polls, nothing positive happened so far.“Hence, we’re observing hunger strike to attract the attention of the Tamil Nadu Government towards this livelihood threat,” said Mr. Vaiko while addressing in the fast.The MDMK general secretary said farming on over 25,000 acres of lands in Tenkasi and Virudhunagar districts would be revived if the damaged Shenbhagavalli check dam is rebuilt to divert the water now going waste into the jungles of the Western Ghats. If the water now going waste was diverted, the Ullar dam scheme could also be implemented to take farming in new areas also.Hence, the Tamil Nadu Government should negotiate with their counterparts in Kerala Government to rebuild the damaged check dam, Mr. Vaiko said.“To highlight this all-important problem and take this issue with all sections of the society, I’ll soon take-out ‘padayatra’ to mobilise the people in favour of the reconstruction of the damaged Shenbhagavalli check dam,” Mr. Vaiko announced.Pointing out the extensive damage being caused by the crop-raiding wild boars to standing crops, Mr. Vaiko urged the State Government to take immediate steps to remove wild boars from the list of Scheduled Animals as per the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.“Since the farmers’ lives and their families wellbeing are paramount, the wild boars destroying crops should be hunted down after duly removing it from the list of protected wild animals. Besides causing extensive damage to the crops, these ruthless animals also attack the poor farmers who either lose their lives or have to spend thousands of rupees for getting medical assistance for the injuries they sustain in wild boar attack,” Mr. Vaiko pointed-out.During the brief interaction with the reporters at the protest venue, Mr. Vaiko said the MDMK would take carefully its political steps and fight always for the genuine causes of the people.While hoping that the MDMK had greater political future, he said the party MLAs would perform their duties in the Assembly as per the laws of the House and according to the party’s decisions.He came down heavily on the recent portrayal of Thiruvalluvar in saffron attire by the Lok Bhavan. Published - June 05, 2026 07:56 pm IST
