East Coast road to be shut an hour ahead of PM Modi's visit to keep protesters at bay
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Tamil Nadu visit on Thursday would be without any public road drive as some opposition parties and Tamil outfits plan to show black flags to protest against the centre for not constituting the Cauvery Management Board despite the Supreme Court order.
On arrival at the Chennai airport in an Indian Air Force plane, the PM would hop into a chopper and land right at the ongoing Defence Expo venue near Mahabalipuram. PM Modi's drive here would only be inside the premises.
The East Coast road would be completely shut an hour ahead of PM Modi's visit to keep protesters at bay.
On his return to Chennai to participate in another event, the Prime Minister would again avoid a drive from the Chennai airport, and would land at the helipad constructed inside the IIT Madras campus to attend the function in the adjoining Adyar Cancer Institute.
Authorities have razed a wall between the two campuses to enable PM Modi's car drives to the venue without having to come to the main road where protesters could gather.
The PM would once again fly within the city from the IIT campus to the airport, a distance of 10 kilometres.
Slamming the prime minister, MDMK chief Vaiko said, "Can't you go by road instead of a helicopter?"
Film director P Barathiraja, who had spearheaded the massive protest on Tuesday against Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in Chennai, confirmed the black flag protest against the prime minister.
"We would assemble at airport at 9 am and show black flags. The PM should go back. He has done injustice to Tamil Nadu," he said.
The DMK, which was the first to announce a black flag protest against the Prime Minister, would assemble near the airport as well.
For weeks now, Tamil Nadu state has seen protests and bandhs by political parties, pro-Tamil outfits, voluntary organisations and the film fraternity over the delay in setting up the Cauvery Management Board, an independent regulatory body that will implement sharing of the Cauvery waters between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry and Kerala.
On February 16, the Supreme Court had set the decades-long water-sharing dispute to rest, asking the centre to implement a scheme for sharing water within six weeks. As the deadline expired, the centre moved court seeking more time, citing the Karnataka assembly polls on May 12.
Earlier this week, the court asked the centre to inform it by May 3 how it planned to implement the water sharing formula in line with the court's verdict delivered in February.