A day after Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced that the Cauvery delta region will be declared a Protected Special Agricultural Zone, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday informed the Centre about the decision.
Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar called on Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar and Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan in Delhi and handed over to them a letter from the CM explaining the State government’s decision.
Emerging from the meeting with the Union Ministers in the Parliament complex, Mr. Jayakumar said, “We hope that a favourable decision would be made in the next few days.”
To a query on a Minister's reported statement that the implementation of the hydrocarbon project will continue, Mr. Jayakumar said he was unaware of the statement.
Policy decision
Replying to another query, Mr. Jayakumar said the Chief Minister had explained the ground reality in the Cauvery delta region to the Centre, and hence, the State government was hoping for a favourable response from the Union government.
When asked whether the State government would pass a resolution in the Assembly regarding the issue, Mr. Jayakumar said the Chief Minister's announcement was by itself a policy decision.
He took a dig at DMK principal secretary and former Minister K.N. Nehru for being unaware of that.
When asked what would happen to the existing industries in the light of Sunday’s announcement, the Minister said the decision pertaining to the delta region was taken only to protect the interests of the State, and farmers in particular.
