Politicians make promises on Mullaperiyar dam only during poll time, say Cumbum farmers

Cumbum Assembly Constituency, part of fertile Theni district, is one among the five southern districts to benefit from the Mullaperiyar dam built by Col. Pennicuick.

However, the farmers here say that the grievances have never been addressed by the politicians, who make tall promises only during the poll time and forget conveniently for the next five years.

Since May 2021, how many times did the Chief Minister or Minister for Water Resources or the Secretary to the government (WRD) would have visited the Mullaperiyar dam or at least the Cumbum valley and addressed the farmers, asks Ponkatchi Kannan, a member of the Periyar Vaigai Paasana Vivasayigal Sangam.

Speaking to The Hindu, he said that from increasing the storage level to 152 feet, felling the 14 trees and to allow the Tamil Nadu officials inside the reservoir and among others for upkeep at periodic intervals, nothing tangible had been done by the Tamil Nadu government.

This was not the case with Kerala, he says.

The officials and ministers from the PWD, Tourism and Forests in Kerala government visited Mullaperiyar dam and had taken a number of steps to benefit the people, the farmers and visitors, he said and added that the Tamil Nadu government is accountable and cannot give any excuse that the row regarding the reservoir was being monitored by the apex court.

The Cumbum sitting MLA N Ramakrishnan has rich experience and understands the problems faced by the ryots here.

“But, he has not done anything to the farmers’ struggle in the last five years,” said a farmer Subbiah from Alagapuri.

“I am a sympathiser of the DMK. I like Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. But, the party and the government had not responded as it should have to the farmers here,” he added.

Luckily, due to the good southwest monsoon, the dam received copious water and hence, the farmers’ were able to get it from the reservoir and carry on with their farm activities.

“If there had been no rain, not just Theni, but all the other four southern districts – Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram -may have gone dry,” he claimed.

Only the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa approached the apex court and got the storage level increased to 142 feet, but from then onwards, the successive DMK government failed to utilise the opportunity and could have enhanced.

“Chief Minister M.K. Stalin should have held talks with his counterpart in Kerala and got the storage level increased. If there was a cordial relation between the two States and the issue was solved, the court would not have interfered at all,” he argued.

Because of the lack of political will from the Tamil Nadu government, the judiciary had to step in and monitor the situation. The farmers are thoroughly upset in the five southern districts over the lackadaisical attitude of the DMK and its leadership for not giving a permanent solution to the reservoir row,” he said.

Countering the argument of the farmers, CPI (M) district secretariat member and area secretary (Cumbum) K.R. Lenin said that the farmers had been getting water from the reservoir and there has been no issue over raising their crops.

“The storage level has to be increased, no doubt. But, the apex court is monitoring and has formed the supervisory committee and the sub-committee to carry out the task comprising members from both Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments. Thus, the farmers should not politicise the issue,” he added.

Mr. Ramakrishnan has done a plenty of works on the health front for the people here. The Government Hospital has certainly got a facelift with huge funds coming in from both the Centre and Tamil Nadu governments. The roads on main-thoroughfare and even in the taluks and panchayats have been laid. Potable water is not an issue.

However, he admitted that the government could have established a college or a polytechnic college in Cumbum which would have benefitted the students. When the Tamil Nadu government had done so much welfare, Mr. Stalin would definitely consider the demand to open a college here and the Communist Party would take it forward, he assured.

A progressive farmer Shankaranarayanan in Uthamapalayam said that the government should establish an industrial estate through SIDCO or SIPCOT here which would benefit the agripreneurs to set up units.

Many value addition products from the agriculture and horticulture crops could be produced here in the estate.

Currently, the farmers sold them without any value addition. With so much technology available on hand, finished products from fruits and vegetables could fetch higher earnings and also open up job opportunities.

The migration of youth from the native towns could be stopped to a large extent.

The cold storage facilities would benefit horticulture crops to preserve the commodities and sell them when the markets were prime and in demand. In the absence of any such facilities, the farmers were compelled to sell them to the merchants.

The farmers’ also said that despite repeated appeals to help contain the animal-human conflict, the forest department had done nothing great for them. The lone elephant menace in Thevaram was never taken seriously. Loss of lives had not been compensated as demanded by the families, they alleged.

Having won four times (1989, 2006, 2011 and 2021) in the general elections and once in a by-poll in 2009, Mr. Ramakrishnan had lost only once in 2016.

Known to the electorate as a non-controversial politician, he is confident of a victory this time as well, his supporters say.

However, his opponent (AIADMK) STK Jakkayan, also a senior and a native of Theni district, is sure to step into the Assembly this time, his campaign managers said.

“People are disappointed with the DMK rule. The farmers’ woes would be solved only by the AIADMK government under the leadership of Edappadi K Palaniswami,” they say.

The NTK and TVK candidates – Anbu Selvi and PLA Jaganath are also hopeful of making a mark in this election as they feel that the voters are disgusted with the two Dravidian parties.

Published – April 03, 2026 09:57 pm IST